What's in Ace's Face

Year Stats

2012-01-01T09:40:00.000-05:00

I remember hearing that you have to do something for 10,000 hours before you are good at it. No idea if there is any truth to that statement or if it's an internet myth. I've yet to have any run seem easy, so I know I'm nowhere near close to being good at it yet. I won't even pretend that I think I'm close to 10,000 hours, though I do always have a rough estimate of how many miles I've done. 10,000 hours is ridiculous, but I'll admit it, I do like the thought of being able to say I've ran 10,000 miles.

1,300 (1,301 to be exact) miles is what I ran in 2011. While not super impressive at first glance, when you think about how far the average person drives a year is 12K miles, I did a tenth of that on foot. That is crazy to me.

Here's to the New Year and what's possible. Thought I'd tribute my running partners who were with me most of those miles. Oh and in case you are wondering, roughly only 9,757 hours until I get good.

Round 2

2011-12-10T11:29:00.001-05:00

Has it been a year already? Don't look now, but it has. Today, was the first day of Run Camp. It doesn't seem like it's been that long, so much has changed though. Will it be the same, will it be easier, why am I doing this again? Too late now, time to do it again.

Last year, compared to this year already feels different. The unknown has vanished. That is what I remember most about going into each week, never knowing if I could do it. Each week felt like a major accomplishment. Already as I stood waiting for the run to official start, I knew I could go the distance. Sure, that's good for confidence I suppose, but I wonder if motivation will suffer this year.

As far as camp, it already seems to operate the same. I admit, I was hoping that some of the areas that seemed lacking would be fixed. Did I fill out my comment card last year? Was there even one? Though I feel bad for other campers, I guess I can't complain too much seeing how last year the same problems were there and it ended up being the best thing that's ever happened to me.

I missed my run partner this week (it's probably fitting because I didn't meet her until the second week). The run itself reminded me of why I love running though. The air was so crisp, the sun was out, the roads were a little slick in spots, but that only makes me feel that much more in tune with my legs and the road. Perfect running conditions.

She said "Yes"

2011-11-26T15:00:00.001-05:00

Kalamazoo Meets the Big City

2011-11-12T11:53:00.003-05:00

Just me, or does everything seem bigger in the big city? There are some very cool things in Chicago, but I don't know if I could every adjust to life there. The food, outstanding! The commutes, I think are more stressful than that dream where it's five minutes away from that important exam and you never studied. The views, beautiful! The prices, holy cow(!) I think I need two extra jobs!

The race was Chicago's Perfect 10. The name is slightly misleading though. The race was in Chicago and it was 10 miles, but it was far from perfect. They did send out emails two days before to change the time of the race, kind of last minute. Luckily, it didn't alter my plans. This is somewhat minor, but I thought it was odd to run an out and back course yet not have a timing strip down to prove anything at the turn around spot. I could have just as easily "improved" my time by turning around after 4 miles. Granted, I'm not fast enough to even have to worry about somebody winning an award because of something like this, but I'd expect to see something like this at an event you pay for. Speaking of getting what you pay for, this is where I have the biggest issues with the race. I've ran a ton of 5K's this summer, every single one had better treats when crossing the finish line. It honestly felt like crossing into a third world nation. This race was two races, a 10 mile and a 10K race. When crossing the line, I expected to get a 10 mile medal, I mean I did go over twice as far as the 10K people, nope. Exactly the same medal regardless of which race you ran. So let me get this straight, I paid $20 more to run longer...yet I easily could have turned around at any point and got the same medal and lousy choice of food? That's far from perfect. Capone's spirit is alive and well in Chicago, I think it's borderline criminal.

For the run itself, it was decent. I'm trying not to let my above experiences cloud my judgement, but it wasn't as cool as I thought it would be. In my head I thought I'd have great views of the water and skyline the whole time. That was really only true on the way back. The weather was perfect though, don't get me wrong it was chilly, but that makes running so much easier. With the amount of people at the event, I knew there wasn't any point even attempting to run hard in the hopes of winning something. The time in my head I wanted were eight minute miles. In the end, I did better than that, so I'm happy.

The one thing from the race that will stick with me was some woman that from about mile 4 to mile 6, I could not get away from her. To sum up her major malfunction, she's the person on the expressway that doesn't set cruise control. I pass her, she passes me, I pass her, she passes me. Except it was even more frustrating than that, she'd pass, then she'd slow down as if trying to intentionally block me. Once or twice, I'd write off as an accident. Three or four times, just a very inconsiderate person. Greater than five times, that deserves a good punch in the face! Okay, I'd never hit a woman, but when the thought actually crosses my mind and I find myself smiling, there's something wrong. I can't ever remember a time when I've felt stressed during a run, it's always been the opposite. Even though I was comfortable with my pace, I decided enough was enough and put the hammer down (as in the gas pedal, not my fist!) and made sure she wasn't going to catch me again. She didn't.

Besides the race, Chicago didn't disappoint. Harry Carey's still makes the best steak on the planet. Our last minute, cheapest, hotel room was gorgeous. If there were a way for me to fit the bathroom in my bag to take home, I would have. After cheese cake was sampled, an impromptu visit to the Cheesecake Factory was made, but unfortunately it was closed. We did get lucky and the huge Marilyn Monroe statue was still in town. Here's my two running partners checking out the "Big City", for the record...I didn't look up her dress.

Let it snow

2011-11-10T19:36:00.001-05:00

It happened very early this year, but tonight was the first snow fall. Did I sit inside with a cup of hot chocolate, under a warm blanket with the fireplace going? Of course not, especially when it's a running night! Crazy.

I know it sounds foolish, but tonight was one of my favorite runs. At times it almost a full blizzard, but instead of worrying about slipping, it being cold, it's so relaxing. The snow drowns out city sounds and foot noise, it's so peaceful. With it getting dark so soon now, it's night, yet the white of the snow makes whatever ambient light seem dreamlike. While running, your body is warm, as the snow hits your face and melts, totally refreshing. I'd take every run just like tonight, it was perfect.

Five of us ran tonight and I think the runners high I experienced hit each one of us. What started out as a four mile run, became six. Afterward, not one of us made a mad dash for the warmth of the house, instead they decided to make snow angels. To anybody who thinks running in the snow is crazy, I won't even argue because it will be impossible to convince somebody who has never tried it. Let it snow!

I Ran How Many Miles For This?

2011-11-08T21:27:00.002-05:00

Thirteen races and here's my reward, a coffee cup! Sure, there are two in the picture, but only one of them is mine. The other belongs to CT, that's her first place mug and my third place mug. The best part, I don't even drink coffee! I know it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm really not. Even though I feel like I should be entitled to a four foot trophy, I'm not sure there's a material object that can really represent my accomplishment. Going from never running to winning this award, I'd say that's a big deal just by itself, but that really only scratches the surface. I've gotten stronger, faster, ran two brutally long races, met some great new friends, oh and the love of my life, not bad. Yeah, it's only coffee cup, but it's all about what you put into it.

UP

2011-11-07T07:33:00.000-05:00

I just spent $99 on a bracelet, for myself! File that under phrases I never thought I would say. It wasn't offered by a guy opening a long trench-coat as a "deal". I wasn't suffering from insomnia where the home shopping network suckered me. I honestly intended to purchase it. Don't you think it looks good on me? Okay, since when would I buy anything for fashion, if you guessed there's an ulterior motive, then you are correct. This bracelet is actually a tech gadget and those are hard for me to pass UP.

What exactly does Jawbone's UP do? It basically tracks everything you do, scary huh, from a fitness point of view. During the day, it collects how many steps you've taken. At night, it tracks how well you sleep. It also pays attention to what you eat, but you do have to manually tell it what food you are eating. Kind of a cool gadget to get an idea of what a typical day looks like.

As somebody who tracks every run I do, the fitness side of UP isn't a huge advantage. Between my phone and my Garmin watch, I know how many running miles I log each week. Though, only having UP for a few days now, it's amazing how little movement I do in a day without running. I knew I wasn't super active at a desk job, but wow, looking at the data it's almost depressing. No wonder America is getting fatter and lazier.

My main curiosity with UP is the ability to track sleep patterns. Here's a sample:

The dark blue bars are deep sleep, the light blue are light sleep, and the orange parts are me still awake or getting up. As to how accurate this data is, I really have no idea, but the fact that it can obviously tell when I get up without triggering it, tells me it's at least doing something. I think over time it will be interesting to see how sleep patterns look staying at a hotel, falling asleep on the couch, after a long day, etc.

I haven't had it long enough to really put UP through it's paces yet. This past week, I was doing something special with one of my running programs, so I haven't specifically used the workout tracking feature of the device. The meal tracking option seems the least useful feature. At the moment, you take pictures of the food you eat with your phone, then a few hours later UP asks you how you feel. Not extremely helpful in my opinion. Jawbone really needs to either integrate with another service or build there own to build a food database with nutrition information. Being able to see a rough estimate of steps and calories burned versus calorie intake, now that is bordering on useful information. My biggest complaint so far is all the information resides in the phone app. Currently it only works with the iPhone, which I'm sure will change, but why they didn't develop a web site to view progress and the information the device collects is a big failure. Hopefully, that will change down the road, but it really limits usability in my opinion.

Even though there's certain improvements Jawbone can make, it's still a fun little toy that I intend to play with for awhile. It's probably a good thing that I don't have my cats anymore, I'd be so tempted to track their sleep patterns! Since I can't do that, I guess I have to continue to experiment on myself....time for a nap! Hey, after all, it's science.

The Big House

2011-10-29T15:55:00.006-04:00

I always knew I'd end up in The Big House, again. It was only a matter of time. Okay, we all know I'm not talking about the one in Jackson! At least I hope so, and if you the reader expected that one, then you may stop reading my blog now!

It's not very often free tickets fall into your lap. It's even more rare when those tickets are to my favorite team. When they do, it's very hard to pass them up. That's the situation I was put in the night before the game. There's something to be said about being spontaneous and before I knew it, the tickets were in my hands. CT had never been and it's probably been close to fifteen years since I had been.

The energy in a stadium with 110+ thousand people is special. Even CT, who I think was only doing this because of how much she knows I bleed Maze and Blue, was impressed. My favorite part was watching Michigan getting a sack for a safety and proceeding to "Woooooohoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" long enough to I think embarrass CT. Next thing I know, I got put on a one "woho" limit. Seriously, girls just don't understand! I behaved for the rest of the game, but little does she know it was only because it wasn't a close contest. Had my team needed me, the rule would have been broken!

She did enjoy the band, which I knew she would. Honestly, I think she enjoyed the football too, at one point she said her heart was beating fast as Michigan almost scored. Her favorite part was the wave. With the game in hand, I knew it was only a matter of time before it started. Of course she enjoyed the normal wave, but once the student section put the wave in slow motion and she got to do it o.n.c.e (and you have to saaaaaaay that very sloooooowwwwwly as if in sloooooow mooooootion)...that sealed the deal, she'll go to another game with me. By then, maybe, even my one "woho" limit will even be lifted!

26.2 Miles comes down to 4 (minutes)

2011-10-16T15:27:00.009-04:00

Four friggin' minutes! We needed 224 to get CT's goal and we crossed the finish line at 228. I suppose going that whole distance and missing it by four seconds, would be worse, but it still seems awful damn close to me given the distance.

The race started with a storm. Dark, gloomy, rainy, why am I doing this again? It was cold, which only bothered me waiting for the start. I knew once we started, it would be a blessing. The rain was my main fear as I scanned the crowd. Running in wet shoes is horrible. Don't mind the snow, sleet, whatever, just keep my feet dry! Wasn't going to happen this day. Bang goes the gun and the with the surge we are off.

I attempted to enjoy the start more, feed off the excitement, take in the sites, but trying to keep adrenaline at a minimum. I'll be honest, in the back of my head were all the thoughts about hitting the wall at the first marathon, worrying about the missing miles because of the heat this summer as I dodged puddles. With the crowd the first mile turned out to be a little slower. The next few miles, things started to open up, mud puddle avoidance was easier, CT and I shared a couple of jokes and we found a rhythm. We didn't start right with the pace group we wanted to stay with, but I could see us gaining on them.

That's how it went until around mile ten. It felt like I was running very easy. We passed the pace group and it was about this time I asked how CT was doing. She said her hip was hurting her some and no sooner did she say that, then my knee started feeling a little weird. We both moved to the center of the road to avoid as much of the grade on the street as possible. It was also about this point the half marathoners turned off. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, how tempting it would be to turn off and be done in three miles, but the sense of pride I had as I continued forward.

Just before mile thirteen there was a little bit of a hill going down and a turn. It's here where my knee really began to hurt and I limped around that corner. Wow. Warning bells and lights started to go off. All the miles I've logged and it's never felt like this. Can I continue? Should I? I can't let CT down. This is about where the decline started in the first marathon. All those thoughts came rushing in my mind. Back on level ground and out of the turn, the pain was gone, maybe some discomfort, but better. Okay, lets see what happens.

Even with the pain, waist up, I felt great. It didn't feel like I was having to work very hard to maintain our pace. Though I was worried about my knee, my mind was more concerned that next stretch is where "The Wall" came and destroyed me last time. CT was beginning to struggle and it's somewhere in this stretch she told me "This is our last marathon". She wanted to start walking through the water stops and I did as well. Though, coming out of the water stops and beginning to run again my knee felt like it was grinding more gears than if I were to drive a stick-shift. It was at this point the marathon officially became survival. The goals get left behind and it simply becomes whatever you can do to finish. I knew we were getting slower and it was around mile seventeen our pace group passed us. I had visions flash back to the first marathon and the crushing defeat I felt when the pace group that I wanted passed me. This time, I was much more level headed. We had started well behind them and although we weren't exactly at the pace we wanted, we weren't walking.

It was around mile twenty that I told CT, I couldn't walk through the water stops anymore. It was too painful for me to start up again. The plan became I'd slow up my pace so she could catch up, but I had to remain moving. For as bad as my knee was doing, I actually felt very good because "The Wall" hadn't reared it's ugly head. I know the last six miles would be the worst, but getting here without breaking down, felt like a huge accomplishment and I could feel the confidence coming back. Even though we were in what I'd call defensive mode, at mile twenty were were at exactly the pace we needed to be at to get our goal. Prior to the run, CT and I discussed that if we were at twenty and weren't at our goal, we'd shut it down. Here we were, right at our goal, but both our bodies were struggling and I knew keeping the pace we had to would be next to impossible. Take away the pain, everything else the same, we could have done it. I know it.

Running isn't pretty. Anybody who looks good crossing the finish line, caught a bus and cheated (maybe not, but that's my theory)! Skip this paragraph if you are squeamish. This is going to get filed under WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Remember, I warned you. Prior to a marathon, I'm convinced there's nothing more important than a good poop. I spent a good thirty minutes in the morning doing everything possible to leave the biggest deposit I could. Even though I resorted to praying, I knew enough didn't come out. Well at just over mile twenty-two, the urge struck me. It wasn't just an urge though, it was all the bells and whistles of "you have ten seconds". I politely told CT to continue on without me as I stopped to contemplate what was going on. I seriously thought I was going to shit my shorts right there on the course. Believe me when I say that all my concerns about my knee were instantly gone. I don't know if it was fear of the scene I'd surely cause, excellent muscle control, divine intervention, or me using all the good karma I've tried to save up, but the shit decided it would wait. This makes the scene in Forrest Gump more classic as he cheerfully says "Shit Happens", luckily for me it didn't. I took a moment to stretch, then my concern became I've gone this far with CT, I have to catch her to finish with her.

The last mile felt like forever. Even with everything this marathon threw at me, the goal was still possible. I could pick up the pace and get darn close. Then I thought about the real goal and that was to cross the line with CT. That was the only thing that really mattered. Not much was said between us down the final stretch, both in pain, both tired, both wanting to be done hand in hand...that's the goal, 4 minutes didn't matter.

Even for missing the other goal, I don't feel bad. This was a much different marathon than the first one. Am I bummed about missing the time we wanted? Sure. But, I'm walking (make that hobbling) away with a much more positive outlook. Life is a learning experience and even though that first marathon was a disaster, I learned a few things. Applying those lessons this time around and seeing the improvements, helps when I evaluate my performance. In honor of those 4 damn minutes, here's the 4 lessons I learned:

1) Tape your nipples - I felt like a pure genius for doing this. As I waited for friends to cross the finish line, I was surprised at how many blood soaked shirts came across the line. Knew with it being cold, it would be a problem. Where I failed and will make adjustments, my rain soaked shorts and the chaffing on my thighs. Ouch.

2) Electrolytes - Maybe I'm stronger, maybe it was the cooler weather, but I'm convinced that drinking electrolytes instead of sticking with water the whole way is what prevented me from hitting the wall again. One bad marathon drinking only water, a much better second one drinking electrolytes, I'm sold.

3) After mile 20 anything goes - The G and PG rated conversation ceases to exist after mile twenty. Colorful four letter words come out to play. "Lets finish this f*cking thing!"

4) Promises - Whatever promises are made during a marathon, don't believe them. "This is our last marathon"....haha.

It's Time

2011-10-13T10:59:00.002-04:00

Fall is here and so is the Grand Rapids Marathon. I'm nervous. Where was this emotion last marathon? Though I complained last marathon lacked emotion, I did feel confident, probably over confident, heading into it. This marathon is flat, the weather is going to be cooler, I'm running faster, and last I checked the distance is the same, 26 (.2), where are these nerves coming from?

The plan is different this time. Gone is the plan of running as hard as possible, then dealing with whatever energy is left to finish the race. Also gone is the thought of running the race for me. This time, CT and I are going to stick together. Maybe that's really where my nerves come from, last marathon when I broke down, it was only myself. This time around, there's added pressure of not letting CT down. But with that also comes the strength of having her near me. Last time CT and I entered a race with this plan, it was by far our best race. She's still convinced Superwoman took over her body that day and ran the race for her. Lightning doesn't strike twice, but I'd sure take it if it does.

CT set a lofty goal for herself of finishing under 3 hours 45 minutes. No added pressure, huh? Track us Live HERE.

Season Ending...

2011-09-24T10:46:00.003-04:00

The season is over and surprisingly the phrase that one would expect to hear of "Season Ending Injury", was never mentioned. That's an accomplishment by itself as far as I'm concerned. You know I like numbers, that's a total of 366 miles over the past four months. Impressed by that? How about an even more impressive stat of 14 races completed? Damn! Then lets talk about the bling. Two firsts, four seconds, and three thirds. That's a nice medal wall.

I'm not exactly sure of when the goal became running a 5K in under twenty minutes, but it was probably soon after getting 21:30 in my first 5K after the marathon. That was the goal, but this season is going to end with the closest I could get being a 20:02. I just wasn't able to break into the 19's. Sure, I'm disappointed, but in the end it's difficult to train for three (.1) miles of speed and twenty-six (.2) miles of distance at the same time. Doesn't seem like it should be, running should be running, but it is.

The consolation prize is sweet though. Running as many races as I did help my chances in the championship series run (ha pun) by the local runner's group. How you do in each race scores points based on how you do. After the season is over, those points are tallied and the top three people get awards for their age group. There are some seriously fast guys in my age group. I could quit my day job, train full time, and still wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of beating them. I wasn't very optimistic of my chances, but through some miracle of at least lowering my times to be decent and luck of some of those really fast guys not running all the races they could, I came in third. WOOT!

The next marathon is around the corner and I suppose that will be the true end to the season. But I'll also let you in on a little secret...summer might be over, but the running season is far from over!

Witness

2011-09-17T11:48:00.004-04:00

I've made it thirty-six years without having to experience anything horrific. No major accidents, about the worst I can think of was a kid breaking his arm growing up. Right place, right time? Maybe. Or just lucky all this time, I guess. In a blink of an eye, that streak ended this weekend.

It started off as a typical weekend, a race on Saturday in the morning. Neither CT or I were feeling "it" prior to the race starting. We were able to cheer for two of our friends who ran the 10K before our race started, so that was a nice change. Then we also got to visit with some new friends we meet running races. During the run, I felt better than I did all weekend. My legs felt good and I remember feeling a sense of freedom. It didn't feel like I had the energy or desire I needed to really push it, but things felt smooth and very comfortable. I had ran this course before, not this race, but this course. I replayed that in my mind as ran, remembering where I had trouble before and smiling as I felt at peace this time. You know I want in the 19's bad, again I finished close, but that didn't bother me as this run plain felt good for me. CT came chugging along shortly after. We met up with our two running partners and started sharing our stories, then the unthinkable happened...

"Call 911!" Came the shout. Standing only a few feet from the finish line, a man had collapse on the ground. At first thought, somebody is overreacting. Then it switches to, this is serious, but I'm sure he'll be alright. All too soon it becomes something I've never had to deal with this before, I'm witnessing somebody passing away before my very eyes. There's nothing I can do, completely helpless to change the outcome of this situation. That was a horrible feeling and then I felt guilty for even watching. This is where runners instinct took over and I actually had to run out of the reality of the situation to get away.

Checking the news later, he did in fact pass away. 42 years old, wow. I can't imagine. There are a couple of things that are going to stick with me forever, even though I'm writing them down here. Running started as a way to promote myself staying healthy, by forcing myself not to spend hours sitting behind the computer. Witnessing this event, only reminds me that I picked the correct course. The second, life can change in a blink of an eye. It's one of those things that always gets said, but this was another reminder to make every moment count. The last and most disturbing mental image from this whole event was watching how small and insignificant we are. Not sure if that's a problem with society as a whole, but it seemed wrong to be watching a life hanging in the balance, meanwhile the announcer is still calmly calling out names as people cross the finish line. Is that a reminder that life goes on, or it's some cruel joke? Either way, that was surreal and the part struck me hardest.

It was a good run, but the streak had to end at some point. My thoughts go out to the guy and his family.

The Path

2011-09-11T11:21:00.001-04:00

Running should be simple, maybe that's why I like it, one foot in front of the other, repeat. Easy enough. It never is though. Is it only the theory that's easy part? The execution is anything but. Maybe, I'm not doing it right. Maybe, that's just the way it is. Maybe, it's suppose to be like this, easy in concept, difficult in practice.

When I think about the big picture, it's hard not to see similarities between running and life. Both have successes, failures, lessons, ups, and downs. Both should be easy, yet no matter how hard you train or plan, there is always going to be something unexpected that makes it complicated, not to mention the unknown. It's here that I'd say at least with running, there's a set start and finish, but that's not necessary always true either. The path in running holds just as much uncertainty at times as life. Where am I going with this? I don't know, but feelings wise, I think I'm at some kind of crossroad. The past couple of weeks it seems like lots of soul searching, almost trying to find a new identity.

This weekend featured two runs, a race and a long run. I didn't feel like I had good training runs this week. I can't explain the reason, they just felt blah. I wasn't confident going into the race this weekend. This happened to be the first race that I had ran before, so I knew the course. From an improvement standpoint, I knocked three and a half minutes off my time from last year. Running it though, I had high hopes of getting my record time, but didn't even come. That was very disappointing.

The next day, the thought of running twenty miles had me scared. The first sixteen, I felt surprisingly good. Though not nearly as fast as a 5K race pace, it's hard to understand why things felt good. Trust me, I wasn't questioning it too much and decided to go with it. With four to go, my legs got tired and I would have loved to pop some ibuprofen, so the last few weren't pretty, but they got done. This coming marathon has me nervous. Want to talk about the unknown, this is it.

Different blog entry for me this time. Head feels like it's got tons of data to crunch on a slow processor. Think I need a run to clear my head ;)

Not Exactly as Planned

2011-08-28T15:55:00.003-04:00

This weekend was one of the most difficult weekends I've had in recent memory. I had to give up my two companions for the past 13 years. I hope they understand and forgive me. It's not the way I wanted it to happen, but couldn't find a solution that worked for all the parties involved. They provided me a constant welcome home, entertainment, love, and an endless supply of hair for all these years. Hopefully, I found a home you can be happy in.

Love you both Rascal and Shy! I'm going to miss you horribly.

A Year to the Date

2011-08-27T11:15:00.003-04:00

I can no longer use the excuse that I haven't even been running for a year yet. This weekend marked the one year anniversary of running my first 5K. It would have been fitting to run the same race again, unfortunately, that race didn't take place this year. Who would have thought my running career lasted longer than the first race I picked? Certainly not me or anybody with betting money in their pocket. Speaking of things that you wouldn't predict, how about getting company sponsored for running? It's official, not only has it been a year, but I can now casual boast "Yeah, I've got corporate sponsorship". I'll try to hide the fact it's my own company and it probably won't happen again, but it's still cool to say, not to mention the shirts to go with. Now....if I could just find somebody who is gullible enough to believe it!

This week was a crazy week. Total, it felt like there were four seconds of free time. I'm hoping that this will be the last week like this one for a very long time. Through all the events, it worked out that my long run for the week took place on Thursday. Normally, I like to have two days to recover after doing a long run, not necessary with no running, but certainly not a race schedule for day two, but that's what had to happen this week. Doing a short warm up run before the race, I could feel plenty of muscles working when it's normally they just work behind the scenes. This could be ugly! This course had more damn corners, this is one time where I'm glad people were ahead of me, otherwise I would have got lost.

Stressful week, tight legs, a year to the date, I ended up 1st in my group (with no asterisk this time). Perfect Anniversary to my first race. Oh, somebody else got first in her division too.

First 1st*

2011-08-20T10:43:00.002-04:00

Running races is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get. Sorry Forest, I'm stealing your line. This week our race schedule brought us to Allegan. Even though we are getting closer to Fall, today although cooler, it was very humid. This was one of those days where physically I just didn't feel like I had much power in my legs. The first mile didn't feel fast to me and after it, the rest of the race felt as though I was in maintain mode. At the mile mark I had already decided that there would be no PR on this date, simply run as hard as I could without overheating and killing myself. Imagine my surprise when seeing the results to find out that I got first! A few weeks ago, I run out of my mind and crush my PR and come within three seconds of getting my ultimate goal, yet end up 7th in my age group. Now, to have what I'd consider a very average race and getting my first, 1st place medal to date. Kind of funny.

I do have to asterisk after this finish though. In this case, I got the medal, but the only reason I did is another guy in my age group placed 2nd overall to receive a trophy. So, to me it's not official, but where's that chocolate...I'm gonna celebrate anyway!

This shirt was at the race. Though it doesn't really fit the theme of this entry, I still like it.

Special Treats

2011-08-13T15:42:00.004-04:00

This weekend was a special one. Yeah, yeah, another weekend and another 5K, I do have one scheduled for every Saturday this month. What makes this one special? This was a return to my hometown. I rarely come back to visit and have been gone for eighteen years now. When I do come back, I certainly never ran a race. Thinking back, I remember one summer either when I was a freshman or a sophomore toying with the idea of joining the cross country team. There was hardly any serious effort put into that idea, but I do remember running with a portable cassette player a few times. When's the last time you've seen one of those? Anyway, it was a long time ago and nothing ever became of it because I never joined the team. Though it never happened, with recent history, I am kind of curious if I would of had any success back then. Getting in shape, running, the goal was always to be able to say the cliche "I'm in the best shape of my life". Had I joined the team, hard to say what could have happened, but the fact I didn't, I think it's fairly obvious I can use the cliche.

The moments before the race I watched three young adults displaying the exact traits that kept me from joining organized sports back in school. Cockiness, huge egos, jockeying for position right on the start line and at one point I heard the three of them predicting they were going to finish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Here were my villains for this race. Eighteen years later, still it instantly reminded me of everything I hated about high school. Bang goes the gun. By a half mile in, I was already by two of them. The one punk actually looked like a decent runner and I actually figured the best I could do would be to stay close to him and use the excuse that he was younger in the end. I was certainly motivated, little did I know I had some secret weapons for me along the route. At just over the mile mark, I surged past him, good riddance. In the back of my head, I was worried of him catching me later, but I never saw any of them again. I knew we weren't in the same age group, but that was a HUGE satisfaction knowing that these jock types got crushed by a aging computer nerd.

What were the secret weapons I spoke of? Only further proof that I have the most amazing and creative family. Unknown to me, prior to the race that morning, my mom and aunt were out at the crack of dawn placing homemade signs all along the race route. Messages like "CT you can do it!", "Ace loves CT", and my personal favorite "Run for the bling CT". I doubt I smile ever during a race. The course was a mix of road, trail, deck, and our favorite a suspension bridge that felt like your knees were made of rubber. Without photographic proof, I doubt I did smile on the outside (damn it, I was working hard), but every time I came to a sign it made me smile on the inside. It was a very special treat and I think my favorite part was standing around post race and having people actually asking if CT was the "Bling Girl".

CT and I both ran away from my hometown with 2nd place medals and twelve special signs. It was great having family there to support us and I honestly think they had more excitement for us than energy I spent racing. For the last note, the first place finisher received a trophy, next year we are coming back for the support...and that a trophy!

The Results Rock

2011-08-06T23:59:00.007-04:00

Well, if you read my previous entry, I was attempting to motivate myself. Did it work? I could give an quick answer, but what fun would that be? If I don't build up the suspense like one of the three million music, talent, and dance shows out there, I'd feel like I'm doing you the reader a disservice. Even though I intend to tease you, I promise there won't be any commercial breaks and I'll keep this show under an hour. For the record, if you can't tell based on the title, then something is really wrong with you.

In addition to the attitude adjustment I spoke about in the previous entry, I also started training a little different. I'm always joking around, but I'm saying this with a straight face, I've been running Fartleks (Fart-licks). Don't ask. I've got no idea where that term comes from and quite honestly, I really don't even want to know. I'm pretending it's the last name of the person who invented the technique and that it didn't come from a elementary school playground. The concept is fairly simple, run harder, then run relaxed, repeating at various intervals. The past two weeks, I've been mixing this technique into my runs.

Did it work? The day before the race, I posted on Facebook that I wanted to cut a minute off my time to get myself officially in the 19's. That was really raising the bar, that's a huge number to pull off. Last year, I would have been ecstatic to pull of 22's. Hitting 20's, felt like an unrealistic goal. Getting under 20, that's officially fast in my book. My post was more motivation, I felt confident that I could lower my PR, but would have guessed maybe 10 seconds. Prior to the start, I felt some tightness in my knee, the humidity was in the uncomfortable level, so I wasn't sure how the race would go. At the start, I felt good the first mile, but I also didn't feel as explosive as I did the previous race. I ran my plan, which was simply run as hard as could based on the conditions and even though there were some rivals around (I'm sure this will be a blog entry at some point down the road), don't pay attention to my watch. It wasn't until I made the final turn and could see the official clock that it hit me how close I actually was to my bold prediction. The clock had 19:xx on it and even though I knew it was going to be very close to actually keeping 19 on it, the race was already a huge success. I missed the 19's by 3 seconds to finish at 20:02, so so close!

My best 5K to date. Improving by 45 seconds, wasn't the 60 I really wanted, but I'm hardly going to beat myself up for getting that close. The results rocked, in fact, which happened to fit in perfect with my plans for later the night. CT's nephew was playing a concert that night and it made the end to a great day. Here's video from the show, not bad, not bad at all.

100% Still Results In Second

2011-07-23T11:13:00.005-04:00

I haven't been pleased with my past couple of performances with my shorter races. There hasn't been a time where felt like I've given up, but at the same time I don't feel like I've given them my all. It still hasn't been quite a year since I've started racing, but I think my goals have changed quite a bit. Heck, they were simply crossing the line, alive. They switched to improving, then to hopefully placing. I don't have a big enough ego to say that I expect to place now, but does bum me out if I don't!

Something has changed. I'm sure it could be any number of things, but I think it's getting harder to see progress and I wouldn't say I'm losing motivation, but it's making me complacent. Going from one race to the next, I was shaving minutes off my times, it's not like that now. I knew that trend couldn't continue, this could be a plateau, or maybe this is as fast as I can get. I'm really not sure...yet. For being a physical activity, running has more mental elements than I ever would have guessed. In the past few races that I didn't believe I did very well, during the runs I could feel myself saying things like "this is good enough", "why try harder", "there are faster people here, you can't beat them, no need to try", very defeatist thinking. Sure, I've have plenty of conversations and battles with myself about not stopping, not giving up, on runs (probably every run to an extent), but this defeatist thinking is something new. I'd like to think these 5K's are getting easier for me, hence giving me too much time to daydream, but I highly doubt that's the case. Wherever this line of thinking came from, it's time to change it.

There are a number of different reasons why I run. As I thought about ways to change this pattern, I didn't look at the reasons why I run, but instead turned to one of my other passions, money! I always try to be responsible with my money and as I thought about paying for these races and realizing that I was running them relaxed, it actually made me mad at myself. When running, I always motivate myself by finding a villain, well spending money foolishly is evil, so this realization is the solution to my problem. I think my course is corrected now.

The first test was this week's race. Would my attitude adjustment work? I've always wanted to break a sub six minute mile, it's difficult to tell for sure because I can only roughly estimate based on the course, but I think I did it. Starting out fast is always the downfall in any race I've ran so far, but I wanted to use every ounce of adrenaline, anger, desire, I had. Mile two was slower and the humidity and heat started to set in. Mile three, the voices were there and it didn't help that a 60 year old guy passed me, but instead of the defeatist voices, the voices were saying things like "you can do it", "don't give up", "keep pushing".

I missed my PR by five seconds. Though I wasn't able to walk away with that victory this time, I think I walked way solving a problem. Oh and I also walked away with second place(again). The guy that got third was only seven seconds behind me, had I relaxed and not given 100%, the results would have been different.

3 am Start and No Regrets

2011-07-09T08:30:00.006-04:00

Just when I thought I've done the craziest thing running, something else comes along that raises the bar. Hmmmm, there's been running more than a mile in general, running in snow, running in below zero temps, a friggin Marathon, what next? How about getting up at 3 am to run a race? Giving up quality beauty sleep, I must be nuts!

Prior to this race, there was some discussion about the possibility of getting a motel room, but when the race starts at 6 am, figure I'd be getting up at 5 am anyway, what's two more hours? Might as well get up early and drive instead of only saving two hours sleep. Besides, it makes for a better story and this is what this is about isn't it?

Training for the next Marathon has been more relaxed this time around. CT and I haven't been putting nearly the same number of miles that we did training for the first one. Even though the miles are down, what we are running is quality. This Half Marathon had a specific goal, run at the pace CT needs to qualify for Boston. That time is averaging 8:30 per mile. I haven't run enough where I'm comfortable even running my own race, but the plan was stick with CT and pace her. Though, I told myself once at the race, size up the competition and if it looks tough, then stick with the plan of pacing CT, if not go for it...and leave her! I've never paced anybody, but how hard could it be?

6 am, the gun goes off. We started out nice and easy. It took some time to thin out to avoid having to dodge people, but soon CT and I were side by side, running very comfortably. 6:08:34 am, I report to CT "We are doing great, we are right at the pace we want, 8:34". Her response, you'd think I told her I killed Bambi! It was something along the lines of "That's not doing great, we are behind", almost in a panic. Four seconds behind after 5,280 ft with 12 miles (or 63,360ft) to go, wasn't a big deal to me. Clearly, my job as a pacer was in jeopardy for daring to run so recklessly!

Side plot time. Of course the goal is an 8:30 pace, but CT has this very competitive streak and she likes medals. It's one thing to get a finisher medal, but she also wants a place medal. I was specifically told she wanted to bring home "The Bling", meaning both. Placing in the top three of your age group is difficult! Prior to the race starting, I said I was sizing up the guys who looked to be about my age, well I was also checking out the competition for CT. I keep hoping for a race like this to be filled with Biggest Loser contestants. Instead, everybody looks serious, fit, and fast. To me, it looked like she'd have her work cut out for her, but I did take mental notes of women I thought could be a problem.

Unnerved slightly from my failure of an 8:34 pace, I decided we'd pick it up some and targeted my first female target, who must be serious because she had a drink belt on in addition to a matching runner's outfit. Next mile was an 8:20 pace. I felt very relaxed and we had closed the gap on the target. I reported this "good news" to CT. What form of gratitude did I get back? I got told "I don't want to know anymore, it only makes me tired"! Wonder if there are any books on Amazon to being a good pacer, because clearly I'm missing something. New plan of attack, making sure we don't dip below 8:30, but solely concentrate on catching the targets. Drink Belt Girl was starting to tire because we passed her somewhere around mile 3.

The next female was running with her sports bottle. She proved to be a very good adversary. We chased her down for what felt like forever, mile 5 I finally saw her start to struggle and by mile 6 we were past her. From mile 6 on, I couldn't even see another female runner. I debated pushing our pace more to try to find another one, but this course had long stretches of road and didn't think it was worth the risk to push harder when we were already way ahead of the 8:30 pace we wanted and seemed to be running so well.

At mile 10, my job as a pacer really got tested. At this point, I felt so good, I was itching to take off and run hard. We were so far ahead of the goal we set, I was confident that even if I left CT, she'd be able to get it. Personal glory, personal glory, was what my mind was telling me. Then I got to thinking how did I get here? We made a plan of starting out easy, I said I was going to pace, we were doing great, lets finish exactly how we planned.

The last mile, the temperature was rising, I could tell CT was starting to get tired. Looking back, I could see the female with the water bottle gaining some ground on us. Which was impressive because were maintaining our pace and hadn't slowed down. CT asked where she was, I told a slight fib that she was a ways back. Suddenly, there was a hill. This almost flat course, finally had a hill, but I wouldn't consider it a REAL hill. We train on much bigger hills than this! I remember confidently boasting "You call this a hill" (any doubt to how I felt?) as we powered up it. After clearing the hill, looking back, our threat was nowhere to be found. Guess somebody doesn't train on hills.

We crossed the line with a blistering 8:06 pace. That alone should be celebrated, but checking the results, you should have seen the smile on CT. Not only did we crush the pace we wanted, besting her previous best Half Marathon time by twelve minutes, but she got the "The Bling" too. Not just any bling either, first place bling. I didn't do as well in my age group, but even so, I only finished three minutes off from placing in my age group. Am I bummed about missing out on my first medal in a Half Marathon, of course. But, in my mind, I ran the perfect race. I had a goal, made a plan, and stuck with it. No regrets....okay maybe getting up at 3 am...we could have waited until 3:15!

Good Cause, Powerful Meaning

2011-06-26T11:21:00.005-04:00

Training for the Grand Rapids Marathon, what better way to prepare than by running the course? That was my thought when I saw Grand Rapids advertise a Half Marathon coming up, odd I didn't remember seeing anything recently. After further research, I found out the Grand Rapids Marathon was doing something very cool and there was a reason I didn't hear about this Half Marathon sooner.

This Half Marathon was a response to the devastation Joplin suffered with the tornado. Joplin was suppose to run a Marathon this year, called the Boomtown, but obviously unable with the damage. Grand Rapids stepped up and decided to offer this Half Marathon with all proceeds going to help Joplin. It didn't take more than a second to sign up for this race knowing it was for a good cause.

For being put together somewhat last minute, I have to applaud everybody involved. It wasn't officially timed and there will be no official record of me running it, but I'll always remember the speech given before the start of the race (well, fun run as they called it). This is where I ruin this blog entry with a obscure movie reference, but the speech reminded me of Cannonball Run, where the line goes something like "There isn't one state with the death penalty for speeding....though we aren't sure about Ohio". Instead in our speech went like this, "We haven't told the police that you are out running this morning, so if they stop you, good luck and we don't know you!".

I'm very excited to run this course in the fall. Running through downtown was very cool. I enjoyed looking at the buildings, running over the bridges, it made for a very fun run. Keep in mind though, I hadn't ran more than 6 miles since the Kalamazoo Marathon. Once the sun came out and when I hit mile 10, I was done. The last three miles were an absolute struggle. Once I finished, I waited for my teammates. It was great to have four of my running partners with me. It made for a great day, both for the route, then without any race pressure, it was a very relaxing feeling. Even with my struggles, I think this will be one of my favorite runs.

We were treated with this beautiful finisher medal, which by itself is special because it is the actual medal that would have been given out had the Marathon taken place in Joplin. It wasn't until after we found out there were a very specific number of medals given out, and it was the exact number of people who lost their lives in that horrible tornado. That medal represents MUCH more than running 13.1 miles.

Klassic Results

2011-06-18T13:12:00.002-04:00

How many races can we run? That might be the theme of the year! It seems like I barely get finished with a race and it's time for another one. I'm not complaining, but it makes it easy to plan the weekend when you know Saturday is race day. Though, it gets confusing where I should be standing that morning, Battle Creek last week, Kalamazoo this week, back to Battle Creek next week!

This week was the Kalamazoo Klassic. This always seems like a popular race based on the turn out, but I soon found out why it's so popular...the course. Everybody is always happy when a course is advertised as a flat, fast course. Well the Klassic is a downhill course. Hence, very popular to help with the PR's (personal records).

Another reason the Klassic is popular, they run the 10K first and the 5K second. This gives the true crazy runners a chance to run both runs. CT and I should have done this to help us work on our distance for our marathon coming up, but we have both been preoccupied with trying to get faster in our 5K's. We decided we wanted to be fresh and push for our PR's. CT's sister did the 10K and did awesome at it. The 10K is much harder. It laps the 5K course twice and remember how I said the 5K is downhill? Well, the part that is cut out of the 5K is a HUGE hill, which the 10K people have to do. Anybody that does that hill gets immediate props from me.

Getting there early to watch CT's sister was great. It was a blast cheering on other running friends as they went by as well. When it came to our race it wasn't like I spent all my energy cheering, but I was already sweating. The later start time, the cheering, and simply walking up that hill a couple of times already had me second guessing if this would be a PR run. Once the race started, the first half mile felt like being herded like cattle. It was a decent pace, but I know if I were free and clear I would have gone faster. A mile in, it opened up enough where I could run at my own pace, but then the sun hit. Between mile one and two, it felt like the sun was scorching me. At this point, I mentally gave up any notion of trying for a PR. I figured I was already behind on my time, I was starting to overheat, simply run to have fun and don't worry about the PR. After mile two, it was all downhill, which you'd think was the greatest feeling in the world, wrong! The best part was the shade! That last mile wasn't easy, but it felt survivable at that point.

Coming down to the finish line, I saw on the clock exactly what I wanted, it still read 20:xx. Wow, did better than I thought even though I felt like I had given up somewhere before mile two. I had to dodge one younger kid in front of me as he puked and crossed the line thirteen seconds better than my previous best!

I always worry about the day CT crosses the line before me. Until then, I think we make a great pair because I feel like death crossing the line. I catch my breath, stumble to the water station, get a drink, then grab a cup for her and about the time I get back to finish line, her she comes. By the time she crosses the line, I feel better, give her water, and to her look like I'm not even tried as she's now the one dying!

No medal for me this week. All the fast people show for this race and knew even if I did get my PR, it wouldn't be enough to place in this race. Still, I feel good about getting my PR again for 4th 5K in a row. BTW, CT not only got her PR as well, but she did medal in her age group. Until next week, readers.

They're Grrrrrrrrrrreat!

2011-06-11T09:33:00.002-04:00

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. What a better way to start the day than running the Cereal City 5K? Okay, so eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes would be much easier, but the sugar high can't compare to the feeling moments after crossing the finish line knowing that you gave it your all. It also doesn't hurt seeing the clock and knowing that you beat your previous best time, but also seeing that you placed in your age group, that's the real sugar coating.

For the second 5K in a row, CT and I both lowered our times and finished 1st and 2nd in our age groups. I hope this trend continues, but CT is quick to point out that I ONLY got 2nd. She doesn't realize how fast the guys are in my group! I'm completely satisfied. This race had an added bonus of the person in 1st for each age group got to select a homemade bowl created by school kids. CT had picked out the bowl she wanted, but it was no guarantee she'd get it. Turns out it was her day, all the age groups that went before her, nobody select her bowl, and she got it. Now, she has something to put her cereal in to start her day.

My favorite moment from this race was coming down the home stretch, there was a young kid in front of me. He was darn fast, but I had been gaining on him for about the last mile. I was happy with myself because I had already passed my main rival, knew I was going to beat my time, and was going to be happy finishing the race like this. The home stretch was up hill some and even though I was keeping my pace, I ended up pulling dead even with that kid. Once even, the kid apparently took offense to me passing him and started in a sprint to the finish. I couldn't resist and sprinted myself to pull dead even with him, I pushed him to a step or two before the line, then I shut it down. Officially, our times were the same, but he got me.

Normally, you'd have to be impressed with meeting Tony the Tiger. In this case, I think Tony was impressed to meet the 1st and 2nd place Superstars, we are pretty great.

$1.98 Gift, Lifetime of Smiles

2011-05-28T08:55:00.006-04:00

Found out this weekend that somebody actually reads my blog! How do I know this? In a rare trip home this weekend, CT and I were treated each to a pink gift wrapped package. The contents of said package once opened......ONLY our medals from our last race! You know, the medals we didn't get from the previous blog entry (yeah, I know you didn't read it!).

I stand completely amazed that not only does somebody read my blog, but my Mom could use the internet to find us the official Susan G. Komen medals we should have received! I don't think I've ever seen CT smile bigger, but my favorite part was how excited my Dad was to tell me they were "only $1.98"! Forget about running a good race, getting a PR, the accomplishment, he's more proud of deal they got. That's my Dad.

I may have got second place in the last race, but I came in first place when parents were being handed out.

Race for the Cure - (PR)etty in Pink

2011-05-15T14:52:00.003-04:00

What a difference a week makes. Even though it's a week closer to summer, the temperature dropped and it was borderline freezing. That was the unexpected change, today's Susan G. Komen 5K race brought back the emotion that my Marathon lacked last weekend. The excitement, nervousness, adrenaline...okay and hypothermia were all back for this race. Why? Maybe it's all because I knew it would be over so quickly. Maybe it's simply because my body will love me for stopping after three miles. Or maybe it's because this race had some purpose.

I have to be honest, I look damn good in any color! It does however, take a special occasion for me to not only dress in pink, but to make a trip to my favorite running store to specifically buy a female's pink shirt to wear...in public. CT's best friend's mom is fighting breast cancer and this was a special occasion to run to support her. CT's goal for herself was to place in her age group and give her the medal she'd win. After my second 5K last year, I set the goal for myself to place in my age group this year. I definitely wanted to backup CT in her quest, I've never placed, but figured if the two of us were going for it, it would only increase our chances. I know I've improved greatly from last year, but would it be enough?

21:18 a new PR (personal record) for myself! CT also got a PR for herself. When the dust settled, we checked our results to find that CT did in fact get first place in her division and I ended up second in mine. To say we were both ecstatic afterward, probably a bit of an understatement.

The final twist to the story, going to claim our medals, they hand us envelopes. How do they fit a medal in an envelope? Answer, they don't. Turns out the "prize" was a gift certificate. For a fraction of a second, there was some disappointment in both of us to find this out, but that was quickly replaced once we thought about what we accomplished today. Oh....and I was quick to point out, this was our first official payday for racing, we are (PR)o's now!

The Kalamazoo Marathon, Mile 20

2011-05-08T12:06:00.005-04:00

A Marathon is 26.2 miles. That's a hell of a long way to run, I think this blog entry could equal that distance when reading, so if you are still awake after all my ramblings, congratulations. It was even difficult to decide the title for the entry. Without going into the details of my thought process, what options I weighed, I'm simply going to say Mile 20.

Six months of training, 679 miles, for a total time of over 4 days (100:19:57 h:m:s to be exact) of running all to prepare for 26.2 miles on May 8th. It's been quite the journey even getting to this point as I stood at the starting line, emotions, could very easily be the theme. Before even committing to doing this Marathon, crazy and insane come to mind. Starting the training, I remember how unsure I felt, wondering if I could even complete six miles. I remember the exact spot where I experienced "runner's high" and I fell in love. Confidence and exhilaration with successes, then worry and doubt with injuries and setbacks. This final week, nervous. The moment is here, what do I feel? Nothing! Calm before the storm, all emotion used, am I numb? Every race up until this point, it was pure adrenaline at the start. Now, nothing.

In my mind, I had two goals: Finish and do it under four hours. The average time to finish a Marathon sits around 4:20 and who wants to be average? Not me. Once training started, a new goal crept up and suddenly 3:40 felt very realistic. I debated a number different styles as to how I would run this race. In the end I felt most comfortable starting out strong and I knew eventually I'd start to get tired, then at that point slow down my pace and finish. My fear if I started out slower, in the final miles when I am tired, I probably wouldn't have enough to make up the time I needed. There was also the thought of sticking with my partner, CT for the whole thing. We always seemed to help each other and it felt good knowing she was close by. The draw to run my first Marathon and get a 3:40 was too tempting. My strategy was pacing myself off of the pace groups. The pace groups were broken up to finish times every fifteen minutes, so 3:00, 3:15, etc. all the way up. I would find the 3:30 group, start with them, then as I got tired fall back and hopefully not drop any further than 3:40 pace back. Simple plan.

Now to the story. Eeeeeeeeeert goes the starting horn and three thousand people surge forward. We had been told to enjoy the excitement and the energy of the first two miles. Again, I felt nothing. I got CT settled with the 3:45 pace group, then I moved ahead and settled in behind the 3:30 pace group. Three miles in, it felt like a practice run, minus the six thousand pounding legs. Mile 5, started into Western's campus and was the second water stop. Mile 6, just leaving campus, I took my first GU. At this point my confidence started to raise, if felt like I was hardly using any energy and was completely comfortable staying with this group. Hmmmm, goal was 3:40, is 3:30 possible? The temperature was raising, but I had hardly even broken a sweat yet. Running along Stadium Drive at this point a water stop should be coming, right (because they are spaced about every two miles apart)? Just like my emotion before the race, nothing. The next water stop wasn't until almost mile 9. That seemed like a big gap in my mind, but I still felt fine.

Mile 11, now I started feeling some fatigue. Up until this point, I had been on the ankles of the pace group. I dropped back some for two reasons, the first being water was starting to be more important to me. This is called learning on the job, but there was a sizable group around the pace group and what I was finding is it was harder to get water because going through the water stops there was only so many volunteers with only two hands. I liked my chances hanging back some and helping my chances to get two cups. second reason, was simply the fatigue I was feeling. Up until this point, I was ahead of where I wanted to be, might as well save energy for the end.

The halfway point, still feeling pretty good. Up until this point, water stops were split, first half water, second half Gatorade. I don't know if they didn't get the memo or this is standard practice, but the water stop in this area switched it up and I downed two cups of Gatorade before I knew what I was drinking. I've never drank Gatorade all throughout training. Mile 15, my stomach was feeling weird. I knew my pace was slowing down, I had already lost sight of the 3:30 pace group. The downhill section of the course was coming up. Don't ask me why, it seems like that would be the easiest part, but give me flat and level every time! I knew I could coast some, but the down also puts more strain on everything, with what my stomach was doing this is the point I completely ditched the fantasy of staying with the 3:30 pace group and this is also the point where survival entered my mind.

Around mile 18, I saw a kid that was in my Run Camp group walking. I stopped for a moment and asked if he was alright and he said he started out to fast. We walked into the water stop, I did another GU and wanted to make sure I got good drinks of water. I wasn't feeling great, but in my mind if I could get to mile 20, all I had to do is add an hour to my time worst case and that would be my finish time and even that was being conservative. I got to mile 20 around 2:50.

Mile 20, here it is. This is the title, hence the real story of this blog and this Marathon. I had heard about "the wall", I even somewhat joked about it in a previous blog entry. My understanding, this was the term thrown out as the point when you didn't want to continue. In my mind, I defined it when everything hurts physically and it becomes a mental game to fight through it, if you want to quit or continue on. Probably naive on my part and cockiness because with my training I felt no real physical pain, but my definition of "the wall" was complete wrong and I was about to figure it out first hand. I could go out and grab the scientific explanation of "the wall" (I have since looked it up), but I'm going to sum it as a living, breathing, nightmare.

My legs stopped working. As the reader, you'll attribute that to of course they did, you just ran 20 miles fool. No, they stopped working. Breathing fine, heart rate fine, no physical pain, brain sends signal to legs to run and nothing....just like the emotional void before the race. So, now that's going on, lets enter the mental aspect. My brain is now in what I'd describe as a panic, "what's going on", "why is this happening", then it transforms. It just so happens that my Run Camp team leader runs by me at this exact moment, somebody who I always felt I performed better than throughout all this training. Defeat. Next thought, I ran almost this exact course a few weeks ago and did 20 miles and was fine. Confusion. Then the 3:45 pace group just passed me. Dreams of 3:40, gone. Somehow enough brain messages reach my legs and I keep up with the 3:45 pace group, at least I can finish with that time. Forget it, legs stop again. Again defeat. Wait, 3:45 that's where CT wanted to be, where is she? Oh no, she's struggling too. Worry. Why didn't I stay with her? Anger, fear. Check watch, only to see all the time I had built up to guarantee I finish under 4 hours, almost gone. Goals dying. It was a front row seat to watching dreams, expectations, hopes all go racing by meanwhile unable to do anything to stop them.

All of that took place in Mile 20 and I still had roughly 6.2 miles to go. Heart was still beating, but it felt like life itself had been sucked out of me. Somewhere between Mile 21 and Mile 25, I was able to feed off two familiar faces one from Run Camp who helped push me and told me finishing under 4 hours was still possible, the other from Gazelle's who had become a frequent acquaintance with all my trips to the store. Not too many details in this stretch because my mind was fried. People cheering "Looking strong" felt insulting because I knew I was neither at this point.

Mile 20 wasn't done rearing it's ugly head though. The home stretch, surely it will be possible to feed off the mobs of people cheering to make it the final half mile and finish strong. I had to stop twice with the finish line in site to walk. Embarrassment. It took one last Gazelle face to come up to me and ask how I was doing. I believe my response was that I'm dead. He said something along the lines of lets finish this. That was enough to do it and felt like the first true positive to the nightmare I was stuck in was coming to an end.

Up until this point, every race the pain has always stopped the moment that line is crossed. Six months of waiting and dreaming how good it would feel to cross the line, what did it feel like? Finally crossing it, it didn't feel empty like the start, instead I felt completely and utterly defeated. The accomplishment of finishing my first Marathon and even squeaking in under 4 hours, were completely negated by the mental anguish that started at Mile 20. Physically running that distance was by far the easiest part. I wasn't prepared for the mind games at all. Years from now, I know the mention of this Marathon, instantly is going to flash up images of how terrible Mile 20 was.

Thought you were done? Oh no, there's still story left. After crossing, was given the cool medal in the picture, grabbed a water than sat at the finish line waiting for CT. Finished my water, then asked if I could go back on the course. I walked back to where CT's sister (Downhill) was watching for her. Still no CT. I told her sister I was going to run out to find her, at which point I was told by her no I wasn't. She'd go find her, get her to me, then we could finish. Normally, I would have argued the point, had I NOT JUST RUN A MARATHON! Ha....even though this entry is depressing, I can still work in some horrible humor. True to her word, Downhill got CT to me and I crossed the line with her. Probably the way I should have planned to do it to begin with. Soon after the rest of the Superstars crossed the line.

That night I made the comment to CT that it was the first Kalamazoo Marathon and it was my last Kalamazoo Marathon, I was that defeated by it. Sleeping on it, without any nightmares I might add, I woke up to decide I'm not letting it get the better of me. I'll run this race again and I'll get the time I wanted.

Think the story is finally done. You can stop here, because this is more for me. When I think back to how the training went, I'm very disappointed that I had to find out what "the wall" was during the race. Had I had a better understand of what exactly it was, I don't think it would have been as devastating to me. Maybe it's hard to push people into finding it in training. If that's the case, it would have been helpful to hear from people who experience it. Then again, maybe everybody is different and there's no real way to explain it. It's not as simple as getting tired like I was lead to believe. As far as my plan for the next Marathon, I'm going with starting slower than I'd like, hit the halfway point, then try to get faster. I very easily could get in the same situation as I did this race and be that much worse off, but it seemed to work for many people as they passed me late when I was dead. I'm also not sold on the whole tapering philosophy. I suppose I did finish and body felt good when it did work, but I didn't like cutting my miles down as much as we did and I also wished we had at least hit Marathon distance prior to do it. Lastly, diet is going to play a much larger role. I can't help but wonder had I paid more attention here, if I could have avoided what happened to me.

Momma said these shoes would take me anywhere!

2011-04-20T15:08:00.000-04:00

I don't celebrate birthdays anymore, at least not officially. All gifts are still greatly appreciated and definitely when I say I don't celebrate birthdays, gifts ARE different than birthdays (need my address?). I've really only stopped the aging part. Even though I'm not aging, I'm continuing to get healthier and even though I want to punch every person in the face who says this phrase, "I'm in the best shape of my life", I'm saying it.

Last year, I had never ran a 5K. I'm not even sure I could even do a mile. Fast forward and a mile is hardly a warm up. For not aging this whole year, I've made amazing progress! To celebrate my feats, I was curious how fast I could run a mile. Training for this Marathon, it's been all about distance and nothing about speed. I know I've gotten faster, time to see. Put on the newly purchased gift to myself, my New Balance 870's, and I came out with a mile in 6 minutes 19 seconds.

Thought for sure I could pull a sub six mile, but maybe next year!

Week 20 - Redemption, Kind Of

2011-04-16T14:53:00.002-04:00

Fresh off the set backs from the previous week, I was nervous heading into this week. Doing 20 miles for week 20 seemed fitting though. My partner was back in commission and the course for this week's run is almost the exact course the Marathon will be. I was excited about that.

CT had high hopes of doing 22 this week. Going from 16 to 22 seemed like too big of a jump for me. She has the ability to talk me into doing crazy things, but with how last week ended for me, I was hoping to only do 20. Don't tell her, but I pretended I was all about going 22, meanwhile hoping she'd get tired and throw in the towel at 20. I wanted to stick with nine minute miles and keep the run easy.

It was a good run, though at mile 18 I remember trying to use the Jedi mind trick to will the last water station. There was a long stretch on a wooden bridge and I remember it feeling like end of the bridge kept moving away from me.

CT did seem happy calling it a day at 20 miles. I acted disappointed, but secretly I was jumping up and down. We waited in the gym for our Superstar teammates to get back. Ultimately, I was very happy with the run. We were spot on for nine minute miles, I didn't have any aches or pains and my calves weren't on fire like last week. CT was happy with herself for being able to make a big jump in her mileage. Our success was short lived as two of our Superstar friend came in gleaming if that's possible. If it was possible, you could see the neon sign above their heads saying we did 22 miles.

Superstar #2 asks us "So, how far did you guys go?"

CT responds with "20".

Superstar #2 comes back with "You guys ONLY did 20"

I honestly don't know if the punctuation on that quote should be a question mark or a exclamation! My my, aren't we full of ourselves? Superstar #2 certainly didn't mean it the way, but it cracked us all up and has been the topic of many conversations this week.

Week 19 - Shaky Ground

2011-04-09T11:58:00.003-04:00

Confidence is a very interesting animal. Untamed, it can turn into a monster. Unused, in the animal world, probably means life expectancy isn't good. Success builds it and failure takes it away. I like to think I try to keep a level head and keep my confidence in check, but starting this journey it seems like I've only had positives. My distances keep increasing, I'm getting faster, not to mention I look awesome, you name it. This is where Big-Headitus happens (didn't go to med school, but I know this is a real condition). I'd say week 19 I hit my peak and something had to give.

The run this week took me back to my good friend the KalHaven Trail. Fresh off my success during the KalHaven Relay Race, familiar territory, of course this Superstar was going to have a great run. Started off like I normally do, a little slow to let people get ahead of me and give me something to chase, then sped up and began chasing people down. Some days you feel it and some days you don't (don't ask me to define "it"...because I have no clue). I caught the group of faster runners, got them in sight, but at that point I couldn't pull the trigger to pass them and because I didn't feel "it", decided I was content to keep pace with them. This week's run was 18 miles. Got to the turn around point, then the 13.1 mile mark. I wasn't on a record pace for myself, but it was still probably my third fastest half marathon time. Not great, but not bad either.

At about mile 15 something changed. I wouldn't say it had been easy up until this point, but suddenly it felt downright difficult. Pain started, joints ached, feet got sore, my knees felt suddenly like it was bone on bone grinding, it was awful. For the final three miles, I had to will myself to finish. I happened to go out slightly further than I had to, so I knew I'd be over 18 miles if I went all the way back to where I started. Every part of me wanted to quit because I hurt so bad, but I made myself promise I'd get to 18 miles before I stopped. True to my word, but not a foot further, once my watch read 18 miles I stopped and walked the rest of the way back.

By the time I was walking, my calves felt like they were on fire! My legs were tired anyway, but this was horrible. I thought walking it out would help, nope. Normally after the run, I take advantage of the free food waiting for us, the only thought on my mind was fear that I wouldn't be able to drive if I didn't leave then and there. I got home, the only thing that sounded good was a hot shower. As I waited for the shower to warm up, I looked at my legs and they were spasming uncontrollably.

Calves on fire, thighs looked like Jello in an earthquake, confidence down the drain! Had the marathon been today, there was no chance I could have even finished. All those successes, out the window and just like that, now there is serious doubt.

KalHaven Trail Run 2011

2011-03-26T18:08:00.003-04:00

This week was a break from Run Camp to take part in a 33.5 mile relay race along the KalHaven Trail. There were a couple options to this race, one was run the whole damn thing. What better way to train for my first marathon than running a 33.5 ultra for a warm up? That's not even funny, but it was an option. The second option was doing the race as a two person team, CT running half and me running the other half. According to our training schedule, distance wise, this would work out fairly well. What fun is running by yourself though and the more the merrier right? That was my theory and the reason the Superstars were recruited to for a five person team. Why sign up for a six person relay race with five people? What's the record for most questions in a blog entry? The answer is easy, we are Superstars dammit!

The first leg of the race was given to "Downhill". Prior to starting, she didn't have a name and was only known as CT's sister. Downhill is coming off an injury from running the half marathon last year and she's been working her way back into running form. CT had been doing some running with her at about a 10:30 minute mile pace. Heading into the event, CT told me in secret she was going to push her sister to run a 10:00 mile pace for our race. Our plan going into the even was that we'd run with each other, for company, and to help each other out. Bang goes the gun (okay there wasn't a gun), CT and Downhill start on the first leg. Myself and the two other Superstars get in the vehicle and drive to where the exchange is going to take place. The first leg was 3.9 miles and I fully expect to see the two of them in about forty minutes, instead CT came in smiling in about thirty-two minutes with Downhill right behind her....but there was no smile. I actually thought, I'm going to have to rush Downhill to the emergency room, she looks like death, I can't believe this but CT actually killed her sister! It's here I'm going to admit to being somewhat selfish, because the thought actually crossed my mind "if CT is willing to kill her own sister for a race, what the hell am I doing training with her? I'm of no relation to her, what chance do I have?" Downhill did recover, she began breathing again instead of gasping, the color came back.....and that's when I reminded her her leg of the race really was the easiest, hence Downhill! (Hey, at least I take no prisoners when it comes to naming people and we all know that names never hurt people, unlike CT making people run 8 minute miles).

The tag was made and our next two runners when out to run their legs, Fashion and The Doctor. The names get much less creative as I go. Fashion got her name because for three weeks in a row I she had a new pair of shoes. This week was a purple pair of minimalist shoes. The Doctor got her name from her fascination for taping her foot before each run and she also seems to have a constant prescription to ibuprofen. The first leg they ran went very good. By the second though, Fashion was starting to hurt from her minimalist shoes. Why don't we run races in shoes are unknowns? There is a lesson here. Anyway, CT jumped in to keep the Doctor company for the remaining leg and Fashion called it a day.

Bathrooms are in short supply along the trail. The next leg started in an actual town and since I was up next, figured I'd use the facilities. Twenty minutes later, I was still in line! Luckily, the woman in front of me asked me if I was running this leg since she wasn't and let me go first. I ran out just in time to see frantic waving that our runners were coming and I almost missed them.

I have never run as hard, as fast, for as long as I did. My best 5K race time is 22:29, I clocked a 21:28. I've never officially run a 10K, but think my best training time sits around 48:00, I did it in 44:22. To put it in some perspective, Troy Aikman, the NFL MVP Super Bowl Quarterback ran a half marathon the same weekend and he finished 1:48:00 something, I did mine in 1:40:00 for the same distance and I still did 3 more miles to finish at 16.1 miles in 2:06:00. All told, I passed 33 people it wasn't until the final few tenths before one person passed me. The final leg CT joined me to finish the race out and those last three miles I had next to nothing left and was so glad to see her.

We didn't win anything, but it was a blast. All the fun was riding in the vehicle between legs and getting out to cheer other runners and our own. The running was hard work, but I'm very proud of myself how I ran. I have no idea how this marathon is going to go, but this was my best race to date. On a side note, this shirt is instantly retired. I ran so hard that my nipples were bleeding and there's blood on this shirt to prove it, instant trophy!

Week 13 - Teammates

2011-03-12T22:31:00.003-05:00

This is going to be a quick entry this week. The Superstar's are all nursing injuries, hopefully everything is minor and will heal quickly. Even though that's the case, not one has given up on doing a run. I'm not sure if that's determination, heart, guilt, or stupidity but they all did it. Again, this week I ended up running at my own pace which left me by myself for most of the miles. This week was different from last week though, all the adrenaline was gone and for whatever reason I felt very alone this week. The aches and pains probably weren't any worse than last week, but they felt much worse. I felt slow. It was a hard run for me this week and I found myself needing the companionship of my teammates.

I look forward to next week, it's going to be less miles and I think sticking together will be my plan.

Week 12 - Superman Isn't Dead

2011-03-05T13:35:00.003-05:00

This week's goal was to run 18 miles. 18! I'm not sure what it is about 18, but this is the first time in Run Camp that I've been nervous before a run. The distances have been slowly been incrementing, so it's never seemed like a big jump. But, with not doing the weeks where we were suppose to do 15 and 16 miles, this seemed like a daunting task. With these distances, I'm also starting to get my meals planned out prior to race day. It's now tradition for pasta the night before.

Two miles in CT told me she wasn't feeling it and I think she could tell I was itching to go. It's strange, but I think running slower is harder on my body, so with the green light to take off and knowing she'd have plenty of company with our Superstar friends, I was off. Little did I know there was an secret plan brewing, but more on that later. It is much easier for me running with people in front of me, not sure if it's purely competitive, it gives me a goal, or simply keeps my mind more focused. I chased everybody down, all the people in our group, another group that started ahead of us, and almost everybody in the fastest group in Run Camp. After six miles, the head games started and all I could think to myself was you are Superman. I felt fast, strong, and able to run through walls. At mile fifteen I started to feel some hip pain, it did slow me down some, but the adrenaline rush of knowing that I not only would easily be able to finish eighteen miles, but I crushed my previous best times for a half marathon time made it easy to finish.

Back at the finish, I grabbed a bagel, then I got to thinking that I felt so good, I really wanted to experience finishing with my run partners because I knew it was going to be a record run for them as well. I could run, but I thought I would walk out, meet them, then run with them back. Well, I walked and I walked, still no sign of them. I reached the first (and what is also the last) water station and finally saw somebody from our group. She confirmed my Superstar's were coming. Pretty soon a lone Superstar showed up and gave me the news that my two missing Superstar's decided to go an extra mile out, planning on ending the day at twenty miles! The master plan got foiled! No sooner did the words leave her mouth, then she asked you're going to meet them aren't you....of course! So, I jogged out and found my two trouble makers, who weren't very trilled to see me, because it basically guaranteed I would end with more miles than them, but I also caught them in the act!

In the end, finished with 22, caught some trouble makers, and feel very confident I can finish this marathon. Superman isn't dead, I felt him inside me today and it was a great feeling.

Week 11 - The Wall

2011-02-20T12:18:00.001-05:00

Hitting "The Wall" is often talked about when running a marathon. This whole training process, I've been curious what it will feel like when I get to that point or even if I will.

This week's schedule got changed around. A couple of the Superstar's (our self-titled group name) couldn't run for our typical long run on Saturday. The plan was to take Saturday off and do our long run on Sunday instead. Running is starting to become an addiction because when Saturday rolled around, I was fully intending to run that day anyway. Maybe not the full distance, but just go out and run a few miles, as a group we were scheduled for 16 miles. I checked with CT and sure enough she didn't need to be convinced to run, so our plan was to do an easy 10 miles. Do you think we stuck to the plan? You should know us well enough by not that something happens once we get out there and the plan goes out the window. Turns out we started running with another runner from our group and ended up doing 13 miles at a pretty fast pace. Whoops.

At this point I'm going to say we got totally busted! As it turned out one of the Superstar's driving in to work saw us running and we got grief for running without her. I swear, what are the chances that she'd see us running on her way to work, we can't get away with anything!

On longer runs, I'm always a little sore. CT had a very good run after getting over her cold, she finally felt she was back to full strength. I was very happy for her, but for me I really ached after this run, which was strange because it felt different and it wasn't as if I had gone further than I had been. It would be one thing if the conditions were bad, but for once in this Run Camp the route was in good shape and mostly dry pavement.

Sunday's plan was to meet at 1pm and do the exact same route that we did the day before. This time we wouldn't have our normal support that we would with Run Camp, so we strategically left vehicles with water at various points. The Superstar who picked the time to run, will not be named, but this run was about to go down in history. Weather, fine all morning. At about 12:30 the snow starts coming down and I'm not talking a few flakes, but the time we started running I'd estimate there was easily two inches on the ground. The four of us started out and I'd guess between a half mile and a mile the snow turned into a sleet and with the blowing wind, my face was actually getting sore. Luckily, about that time we changed directions and it didn't seem as bad. Three miles out, we reached the first vehicle and got some water. Five miles out, we stopped and used our GU (eating snow to provide water, which felt like we were cannibals using the environment). Six miles out hit the second vehicle. Reached seven miles out and proceeded to have a snowball fight. I'd say this is the point where we started losing our minds, this is also the point where it began raining.

On the way back, what was once a soft cushion with the new snow was now like stepping into a puddle with each step. The snow was still on top, but now it was a very wet slushy underneath. I still felt pretty good, but come about mile nine where we did more GU, my knees did not want to go anymore. Once starting, I was fine, but stopping it felt like they were wet concrete and getting them moving again was nothing but grinding pain. It seemed to take forever to get back to other car. Once there, this was my wall. CT could tell I was in pain. I think she came close to pushing me in the car and driving me back, but I wanted to finish. We started out again, but my one comment was that I literally couldn't stop again, if I did, I'd never get my knees working again and I had to go at my own pace.

I wasn't fast, there was a huge hill that seemed almost impossible, but fought through it to get down to the last mile which was down a fairly busy road. With the end in sight, you'd think the worst was behind me, less than a mile to go, no big deal. Wrong! The next hurdle to overcome was the cars passing and regardless if they tried not to or not, it was a slush, cold water shower with every passing vehicle. The cars weren't bad, but at some point this huge 4x4 truck went by and blasted me with enough force to almost knock me back and that wasn't even the worst part, it felt like I had just been dunked in an ice-water bath! I started laughing, for as difficult as Hitting the Wall sounds, I don't think it could compare to the onslaught of everything I experience during this one run. All I had to do was make it back and I was fairly confident I could handle anything the marathon threw at me.

To date, hardest run ever! Next to losing a limb, or maybe rabid dogs chasing me down, I can't imagine a more difficult run. I'll remember this run FOREVER! I honestly don't think I've felt "Hitting the Wall" yet, but when I do, I'm going to think back to this run and that alone should be enough to push me past it.

5K Heart Check

2011-02-13T21:26:00.001-05:00

Spending all my time training for the marathon, one would think it would be easy to judge how I've been improving. It's not cut and dry as it would seem. For one thing, prior to starting this training, my training consisted of running as hard as I could for as long as I could training for my 5K's. In this marathon training, almost every run is suppose to be an "easy" run. That phrase is open to interpretation, because is a thirteen mile run ever easy? I understand by their definition an "easy" run is one that the pace seems comfortable and you are not pushing yourself to failure. But it seems like an odd concept, run slower to get faster, seriously?

I don't ALWAYS follow the rules and a few nights ago I pushed myself during one of my "easy" training runs. I happened to be by myself and was curious how I'd do. I ended up doing a 10K worth of distance and at my previous best race pace which would be impressive based on the distance, but I picked a route that had some major hills. If I could maintain that pace in hills, wonder how I'd do in a flat course?

The problem with winter and running, there aren't very many races to choose from. But I decided to look and see if I could find a 5K, sure enough I found this one called the Heart Throb. It worked out perfect because almost ever 5K gets run on Saturday mornings (which conflicts with Run Camp), this one happened to be on Sunday. The only downside, it takes place not only in East Lansing, but on State's campus....double ewwwww!

Based on the name, you can tell it's a Valentine's Day themed race. One of the options that intrigued me about this race is couples could enter and prizes would be given out for that too. CT and I seem to be fairly fast together, so I convinced her to enter with me and we'd see how the two of use would do. That was a mistake, but more on that later.

It turned out to be a great day for a race. I was unsure exactly how to dress based on the temps and decided to still with what I had been running in. CT told me I'd get to hot, but I ignored her. Two miles into the race, she was right. I found myself debating if I could get two layers off and keep running, if it was worth the chance, or if I should simply suck it up and keep going. Based on my pace, I knew I was guaranteed setting my PR, so I decided to slow down and suffer dying of the heat. I did cross the finish line almost two minutes faster than my previous best. While I was extremely happy about that, some old guy passed me right at the end and that was ego crushing. I know had I not overheated, I not only could have finished ahead of him, but could even get a better time. So, next time!

CT had her own overheating issues, not to mention she's still trying to get over a cold. I know she wasn't pleased with her time, but when we looked at the overall results I pointed out that she still would have finished first in her age group. I don't think I've ever seen a frown turn upside down so fast! I would have finished second in my age group. So, back to entering us as a couple, because I did that we weren't entitled to the awards for the age groups. When I did that, I was under the impression that as a couple we'd be competing against other couples in our age group, I know we'd be able to beat them. Well, as it turned out all the couples were lumped in one group, so the only way we'd win an award is if we finished in the top three. As it turned out we finished sixth, which I think is damn good, especially when you consider we were running a race on a college campus and every couple before us was under twenty four, punks! Oh, and though CT gave me some grief for not signing us up as singles so we could have walked away with medals, we decided the MSU great and white ribbon on them made them ugly....and we didn't want them anyway!

Call me a believer in many slower, longer, runs make you faster. Prior to even running a 5K, I had dreamed of finishing in the 22 minute range. Not only did I do it, I still think I can get faster. I'd say my heart is in pretty good shape!

Week 8, 9, 10 - Recaps

2011-02-12T14:46:00.002-05:00

Yeah, yeah, so I've missed a few weeks doing detailed descriptions of every week's long runs. Freezing temps, playing chicken with cars, can only happen so often and not all runs can be exciting, which is probably a good thing.

Week 8: The main roads weren't too bad, so does that mean sticking to them, of course not! Why not get off the main roads and run through a neighborhood that looks like it hadn't been touched by plows in a week? Might as well to increase the difficulty since this was a shorter distance run for us this week. The hill on Parkview was also especially nice.

Week 9: Back to a real long run this week, 14 miles and the theme of this week's picture. This run was NOTHING like this picture! Somewhere between mile six and seven, I broke down to laughing hysterically. It was as if you'd climb up a hill, only to see an even bigger one staring you in the face. The whole time thinking to yourself that has to be it....only to repeat itself over and over again.

Week 10: This ended up being a short run, but not based on the schedule. CT had been sick all week and still decided to give it a try, but three miles out decided she had enough and we turned around and called it a day. Not exactly how we ever want to finish a run, but you can only do so much when your body says that's enough. Just have to heal and get back to it.

Week 7 - Half Way There

2011-01-22T19:24:00.003-05:00

Four short months ago, I was nervous to even commit myself to running a half marathon. Thirteen (.1) miles is a daunting task, especially when at the time I was only going three miles consistently. Starting this training schedule, this week was circled, this would be the week potentially I could run thirteen (.1) miles. I say potentially because even though I was intending to do the "medium" training schedule, somehow I got put in the harder training program, cough CT cough!

Last week's weather conditions were horrible! This week's were different, to remain positive. Had somebody told me I'd be running more miles than double the temperature, in a snow storm, I would have laughed or at least assumed I'd be on a treadmill inside!

I'm not sure how a record run can be uneventful, but it was. No crazy drivers, no euphoric spells, no pain, it was simply a very nice run. The first mile was the most difficult, trying to get my body's temperature raised was the only uncomfortable part of the whole run. Even though it was snowing, the roads were bare for the most part which made everything easier. In the end, the run was going to end at thirteen miles, but it's impossible to go that far and not go the extra. I had to do an extra little jog to make sure I ended the morning making it an "official" half marathon with the .1.

A coworker had run a half marathon and I remember asking him if he'd do it again a few days after. He grimaced an answer and I he didn't say no, but it was something based on the body language that I could tell wasn't high on his priority list to do again either. I think that's were my reservation came from when first getting talking into trying for this half marathon, I remember my coworker's look. Well, not only did I do the thirteen (.1) this week, in crazy cold temps, but I could have EASILY gone longer! To date, I don't think I've ever felt as strong as I did not only during the run, but after. If this is any indication, I'm so glad I decided to challenge myself doing the full marathon. Had I only committed myself to the half, I'd be very disappointed in myself of how little confidence I had in myself. Three months of training to go and I'm half way there, plus a little more (.1).

Week 6 - Still Here

2011-01-15T20:28:00.007-05:00

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right? That's going to be the theme for this week. My knee has been bothering me and I have to say it's behavior is kind of strange. It's been giving me more trouble when not running than when I do run. I'm starting to wonder if it enjoys running as much as I do and it's secretly having a temper tantrum when I use it only for walking. CT's hip is still giving her trouble, at least that's what she says. I've got a new theory on that too, I think she's attempting to trick me into thinking she's injured and she's really planning to leave me in the dust come marathon time. She complains about it, even spoke with a couple of the doctors at Run Camp about it and got some information, but between you and me, I know this is nothing more than a snow-storm, because she's not getting any slower!

Speaking of snow storms, that's what this week's run was in. Go to bed Friday night with bare roads and thought it's going to be awesome to run with good footing tomorrow only to up the garage door up and find two inches of new snow on the ground. So much for that idea. It truly was a miserable run, not only were the roads a mess, it was still coming down the whole time we were running and to top it off the whole way back seemed to be going against the wind. Ended the day doing 12 miles, in those conditions it really felt like 24!

I'm at roughly 590 miles running since I started in May. Lots of miles have been on trails, but there's also a big chunk of miles that I've done on the road. This week marked a first, a car actually tried to hit us this week. I'm constantly on the lookout for the drivers who aren't paying attention. Almost every car it's fairly obvious if they see me based on how they react. The cars that I don't see that reaction, immediately become threats and I become much more aware of making sure I have an escape route. The car today, was in that danger zone, then I watched him actually angle so he'd get even closer to us. It would be one thing if it was only me by myself, but in this case CT and one other person from our group was with me. It was no accident, which was also confirmed at the next water station when we found another guy in our group almost got hit by the same car. I don't understand that behavior, I hope karma has something special lined up for that jackass. (Karma, if you are out there and need ideas, come find me...I've got a few for ya)

Maybe it's snow on the top of my head, maybe it's gray hair from my close call. Either way, I'm thankful to be back and thankful nothing happened to my friends! (I had a secret goal of making it all the way through Run Camp without a single picture taken of me, but my white top proved too popular to keep the streak intact.)

Week 5 - Signs

2011-01-09T07:02:00.006-05:00

Signs come in all different forms. They could be the obvious ones, for example road signs, where you're suppose to follow them. Speed limits, that's just a suggestion, right? Signs can be used as a gesture, for information, or offer direction. They can be direct or subtle, but the sign is only effective if we notice it. I kind of like the subtle ones. The one I'm specifically thinking of is this night. I easily could have shrugged off the conversation as nothing more than friendly chit chat. But something was very different. What prompts an acquaintance, known from a completely different sport, to plant an idea which spread like a virus? To me, that's a sign. I easily could ignored it, but the randomness of what took place, there was something special to this sign.

Getting out of bed at 5:45 in the morning on a Saturday, I'd classify that as a bad sign! Yet, this is what's required. It was a cold and snowy morning, lots of new snow this week, and it was still coming down. Run Camp started with a clinic on what paces we should be running our various distances at. I admit, I zoned out and this is what was running through my mind. 7:45, finally it's time to go! Stepping outside, the snow had stopped, the sun was coming out, there was still a chill in the air. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was a sign it was going to be a good run! ;)

Five weeks in, I've put in lots of miles. The past two I've started to get a few aches and pains. My ankles have been sore, which I believe has to do with running on the snow which calls for constant adjustments. I don't mind that pain, because I know they are getting stronger. I worry most about my knees and one has been giving me slight pain, not while running, but more after. Then on one run this week and at about mile 4 today I think I felt Plantar Fasciitis for the first time. It went away quickly, so we'll keep an eye on that. My partner, CT, is nursing some hip pain, so I'm not the only one. We check on each other during the run, typically her question to me is "How are you feeling old man?". Yeah, so I'm a few months older than her, but I hardly think that qualifies that statement! Today was especially funny to me because when I turned to answer her, it was so cold that ice crystals had formed on her eye lashes, eye brows, and better yet had turned the top of her hair pure white! My instant thought was this little old lady next to has no business calling me old....and hey she's kind of a fast to be keeping up with me!

The distance that I'm running now, I have to start thinking about nutrition along the way. I've been hesitant so far because it's just one more thing to keep track of. There are a number of different options, but I like easy, so my choice is something called GU. It comes in a small foil packet, has various flavors, and the concept is to rip off the top, then squeeze the contents into your mouth as you run. I've been reluctant to try it so far because I worry about cramping or worse yet, it not agreeing with me and making a spectacle of myself hurling all over the road. Somewhere around mile 4, I felt very euphoric. Maybe it was runner's high, I don't know what it was exactly, but that was my sign that today would be the day to GU. We reached the 5.5 mile marker, stopped and took our GU...which was almost frozen solid. Maybe it was psychological, maybe it really did the trick, either way it worked. I felt much better for the second half.

After the run today, we stopped at a coffee shop to kill some time before another running clinic, Gazelle's GFR (Good Form Running). This is where this picture comes from. Sometimes those subtle signs are hard to recognize, but how could you not notice this one? I think it's safe to say, this is the sign I love running!

Normally, I'd end my post here, but I at least have to comment on one thing that made me smile from the clinic. I can't say enough good things about Gazelle's and I want that on record before I say this next part of this story! If I could have paid them extra for what happen, I would have, but honestly I didn't! The clinic video tapes you running, then they critic your form, offer pointers, and basically try give you hints to run properly. I talked a number of friends into joining me for this class and even had a guy who's been running with me on Wednesday nights in the class. It's somewhat nerve racking when it comes to be your turn on the big screen. The first thing they point out on me was basically a compliment. Had they supplied popcorn, ALL of my friends would have thrown it at me! You should have heard the grown, boos and hisses from my "friends"! Talk about putting a target on my back, thanks Gazelle's! I was already feeling great from doing 11 miles (a new record for myself), but the cool sign from the coffee place for my blog entry for the week, and now this....sure was an AWESOME week!

Week 4 - Lots of Ones

2011-01-01T15:44:00.004-05:00

It's New Year's Resolutions time! You know, the time of year to make those little promises to yourself that last one, maybe two weeks tops. I have to be honest, I do enjoy seeing all the new faces at the gym then watching them dwindle down until it's only the same faces that I've seen for years. I've never understood the concept of resolutions. I respect making the decision to change something for the better, but waiting for a specific date to roll around to officially start, sorry but it's doomed to fail. If that goal isn't burning deep down inside you because you want it so bad to want to make it happen immediately, then waiting for this magical date isn't going to any difference.

1/11/11 at 1:00 (probably should have been 1:11 huh?) was when the race started. It is a cool date and time, but for me the significance had nothing to do with the 1's, or starting any resolutions. I did break out my Cake is a liar shirt to secretly goof on people who were starting the New Year active, yet will probably be on the couch come next month. My real reason to stand out out in the cold, run a few miles, on a day I'd normally lay on the couch and watch football all day, the company. With five friends around, all wanting to be active, the decision is pretty easy and the uniqueness of the date plays no part in it.

It was great that the conditions weren't blizzard like, which I wondered about when I signed myself up for this event a month ago. The day before, temps were in the 40's! Which only caused some overconfidence, because when it came to race time, with the wind, it was still darn cold! Crazy Train brought her niece to run the race with us. Her name is Bug and I swear I didn't make that one up! Becca kept Bug company and warm in the car while CT and I did two laps of the park prior to the race starting. Our team leaders were suppose to meet us and do them with us, but just like everything so far, we were left to do our own thing (that doesn't count as complaining, when it's a fact does it?).

One One One equals three in my book, which also happens to be the number of things I'm going to remember about this race. The first, CT predicted that Bug would start out fast, hit the good sized hill in the middle of the course and proceed to walk up it. Bug did start out fast and with the number of people participating, that alone was a challenge. We lost sight of Bug a number of times, but by the time we got to the hill we were shadowing her. CT and Bug may be related, but this Bug has wings or something because she POWERED up that hill! I couldn't have planned it any better, not that I like to tease or anything, but being able to look over at CT and say "Oh yeah, it really looked like she had trouble with that hill" rolling my eyes with a smirk made my day!

My second favorite moment was almost at the end of the race when CT proved again to me that we are very similar because I think she too likes to pick a villain out. I believe her comment was "how is that possible", when she spotted a kid (all four feet of him) that was maybe 5 or 6 years old still ahead of us running with his parents. Fun run or not, there are just some people that you don't want to finish behind. I generally pick adults for my villains, apparently CT has no shame picking on little kids, so to keep her ego safe, we made the move on the kid.

Speaking of egos, the second I get get one, it's like clockwork that I either get humbled or in trouble. It would be the latter this time. Becca is still out of commission with her back (and I know it's killing her to not being able to run). She was on photo detail again for this race. I didn't see her once the entire race and according to her, as she went to get action pictures of me, I started dodging in and around people making it impossible to get shots of me. I'd accuse her of fibbing and that she really spent the race inside the heated car, but not only did she manage to get action shots of some of our friends, but those friends also saw her and were waving and yelling at her! No escape from this ONE either, guess I'll take my verbal beating, and add it to the other ones.

Week 3 - Records Are Meant To Be Broken

2010-12-26T22:37:00.013-05:00

With the holidays here, Run Camp didn't meet officially this week. On the schedule I had to laugh because for the 25th they listed the mileage we were suppose do our long run as "on your own". I secretly wonder how many people really ran that day. When you're on your own, it's easy to cheat! For the record, I actually did run, just not very far. But I get to qualify that because I had made arrangements and called in my support group (okay, support person Crazy Train) to do our long run the next day. It also just so happened that one of our group leaders also decided to do a group run, so we ended joining them. Can two other people and the group leader really be a "them"? When you include the two of us, for a grand total of five people, I guess so. Eh, I was happy.

Every superhero has a weakness, heck that's the link that makes them seem human. I'm sworn to secrecy, but I know CT's Kryptonite. I'm going to share this information with my blog only because nobody reads it, so it will remain a secret, but when it comes to hills she becomes much more human! Why do I bring this up? Because, I'm taking FULL credit when I cure her of this deficiency! Oh yeah, I'm going to brag about it, hell maybe the Biggest Loser will come knocking on my door for the next trainer gig. Being only our third run together, I already noticed an improvement. About a mile into our run a long mile hill started. One of the other people in the group clearly struggled with it, so I kind of hung back and tried to keep that person motivated, the whole time smiling as CT powered up and to the end of this monster hill.

The group ended up deciding on doing eight miles. It was a good run, even though we tended to stop more often than I like. I can't be positive, but I think CT would have been happy doing eight, if "on your own" is easy to cheat, what good is a partner that doesn't push? This week was my turn to push us. We said quick good-byes to our group, then CT and I split off to add an extra mile or two. Even though I was very proud of how CT did in hills earlier, I headed right to the biggest hills that I knew of (remember my game from my previous entry). At one point she actually made a comment to me that made me think she was debating quitting or maybe it was just that she was very displeased with me. Either way, I can't remember the exact phrase because I was so out of breath myself, my brain wasn't functioning, but I swear it happened! I know I didn't hallucinate it! Once out of the hills, she admitted it felt good and thanked me. Looking at our stats from our run, we actually got faster in the hills, which I think is damn impressive. We are going to rock this marathon.

So....why the broken ornament in the picture? Well, besides it representing the first and LAST time the Christmas tree has been up in my house for fear of what the cats will do to it. In the coming weeks, many distance records are going to be broken like this ornament, but this week is special because it represents the first time I've completed double digits in a single run, 10.17 to be exact! Oh, and if for some reason it didn't convey to words in this blog entry, I feel FANTASTIC!

In Running, It's Better To Lead Than Follow

2010-12-22T22:54:00.003-05:00

Ooooooh Awwwwwwwwwwh! (Now pretend the sky opens and that first beam of light comes shining down on me)

I wouldn't call it an epiphany, maybe it was, it was at least a moment, where it hit me that my attitude regarding Run Camp sucked. I happened to be watching some music videos that featured people running in them, when it just clicked, I just want to run! I went from sitting really doing nothing, to actually starting to get giddy and trying to figure out how I could get out and run. Take this video for example, he looks fast and has great form, yet all I want to do is race him! It's probably safe to say that most people view running as a chore. Even a month ago, I would have agreed with that, but something has really changed recently and it's hard to explain (I am a guy after all and expressing feelings is almost like running a Marathon, it's not easy!). Watching the clock knowing that run is coming up, actually running breathing the air and seeing the sites, feeling the various surfaces under my feet, and the sense of accomplishment after a good run, I love it! With all those positives, it seems silly to get frustrated with something that is out of my control.

The more I thought about it though, I figure there are two options, live with it or fix it. Since I fix things constantly all day, it only seems natural which way to go. So, this is my pledge to step up and not follow behind complaining anymore.

Maybe this blog entry should be called Week 2.5, since I just finished the mid-week run. I've really been enjoying runs that Gazelle's has been putting on. I convinced my new run partner to come out and join me. Her name is Crazy Train by the way. That may not be her given name, but it IS fitting. I was going to be completely satisfied running six miles with the group. Oh no, not with CT, she wants to do another two after we finished the six. Don't tell her this, but there is NO WAY I'm letting her show me up! Off we go by ourselves this time. Well, just like my navigation underwater, my land navigation happened to be slightly off because I took us two point something miles instead of exactly two. Her response, well we have to do nine now! This is where I began to question this new decision not to complain (even though it would be impossible anyway as I was smiling the whole time), but I also I have to admit my new game, I'm curious if CT quits. We did call it a night after nine miles, so although she's crazy, she's not insane. Though we stopped for the night, we never quit, and I'm already checking the clock for when we get to go again!

Week 2 - Rubs Me The Wrong Way

2010-12-18T11:22:00.012-05:00

There were a couple of different directions I could go with this entry. The Yooper in me thought about using the theme of The Second Week of Deer Camp only with Run Camp injected in it's place, but in all honesty I can't stand that song. Any time it comes on, it does make me want to bash my head against the wall. Run Camp isn't causing the exact same reaction yet, but it is causing me to at least shake my head. Another theme, I could treat Run Camp as this mysterious metaphysical, binding force that surrounds all living things with both a light side and a dark side, yet can't be seen, but George Lucus would probably sue me. Instead, I'll attempt to tell the story of the events of the week and relate them to the final outcome.

The Run Camp experience is split in two sections, the long run on Saturdays and typically a shorter mid-week run. The mid-week runs are optional, though technically everything is optional. They aren't going to make you run and turn all drill instructor on us. If week one caused me to wonder, then week two only confirmed my suspicion that we are on our own to figure out our own path. My group leaders picked times for their mid-week runs that no working person can make. See now how I could have easily gone with the shaking my head theme? My solution to that problem, I already had been doing a mid-week run with a completely different group, which surprisingly enough has a much better social side (and didn't cost me a dime). I don't want to change the subject, but I had a very enjoyable run this week with them, maybe that will warrant another blog entry by itself. Back on subject, I find it very odd to choose times that would be very difficult for people to be able to participate. Then again, this is Michigan and with very few people working, maybe it makes perfect sense. For me it doesn't.

Since I'm still not entirely sold on my group, listed on the schedule for today's agenda was thirty minutes for what's called drop/add, or switching teams. This surely would be the time when as a group we talked about our goals, how we were feeling, getting to know fellow runners, and basically deciding if we were in the right group. Instead, that was maybe two minutes (without any of those ideas by the way), while we were given a demonstration of core exercises for the rest of the time. I can't complain too much, that is valuable information and at least we are getting something. But this week is suppose to be the week teams are set for the remainder of the camp. This is where I'm just going to let the force (Luke, I am your father) of Run Camp run it's course, hopefully the light and the dark sides are equal.

Now to the run, the whole purpose of Run Camp. I started out in the back, mainly just to watch how the run would go this week. Would we stick tightly together, would there be more conversation, or would it be a repeat of last week? A mile in, we were split into about three clumps. So, this was going to be a repeat of last week. This is where I got irritated, already not happy with the mid-week run events, a group run that really isn't a group, our pace seemed slow (though looking at my stats after we were within our limits, so I can't officially be mad at that, but damn it, it felt like it!) and I could see a small group pulling away from our front leader. That was the last straw and clearly I'm on my own again this week, might as well run for me. I caught the group that was pulling away and stuck with them for a short time, then some hills started and they slowed and I kept going, now I was leading our group. The second water station was a 3.5 miles out. I stopped here, curious if the group would turn around here or not. Originally, I was only planning on doing 7 miles, so this was going to be my turn around point. The first team member behind me also got a drink, then as I was planning to wait for the rest of the group, she says "ready to keep going?". If she's doing it, I'm game, so off we went. At about the same time we started, a good song started playing (oh yes, I head my headphones in again), so I know I pushed the pace even more (so for the record as somebody who is complaining how non-social Run Camp is, I'm not doing my part either). Even though I was grooving, it hit me that her single comment to keep going was the most interaction I got in two weeks of Run Camp, that should count for something and what did I do, sped off without taking advantage of this opportunity. At mile marker 4 I stopped again, now I've never ran more than 7 miles and I'm now at the point of doing 8. She wasn't that far behind, our group however was.

Same question, turn around? Yet, I didn't even get to ask it. She pretty much just ran passed me with the comment, "lets do 9". Sold! Here's my run partner for Run Camp. Whether she was looking for a partner or not, I'm not sure, but she earned my respect at that moment, one for pushing me, the second for not seeming concerned for what our group was doing. For the remaining 5 miles I was finally happy to run with somebody. I think it's a pretty good match, which was later confirmed when she announced to her friends that I was the one who pushed her to do 9 miles. Huh, somebody who enjoys teasing, that doesn't sound like anybody I know! So mark this on the calendar, this is the first real positive to come from Run Camp.

Took a long time getting here, but the title of this entry. Yes, Run Camp does rub me the wrong way so far. Why the picture of the sand? The lesson for this week is when running long distances, clothes do tend to rub. It wasn't until I got home and jumped in the shower that I noticed my nipples felt very odd. After those two long seconds that took entirely too long to register why (I are so smart!), I realized that my shirt was rubbing to the point it felt like my shirt was made of sandpaper. Not anything major, in fact it's kind of funny, but that information was NOT given out in Run Camp. So, Week Two rubbed me the wrong way in both senses of the phrase...but the physical issue is correctable and the mental issue got a whole lot better based on my new partner.

(Yeah, I know I used this photo before for a prior blog entry, but I find it cool that it has sand in it for my sandpaper reference, but even more interesting is what I titled it back then, "5 miles Up" since it was the last 5 miles that things started to look up.)

Week 1

2010-12-11T11:11:00.005-05:00

If I'm going to run a marathon in a few months, I probably shouldn't do my training at 7 pm (inside joke there). Even though I've completed 438 miles on my own since May, I decided to give Borgess Run Camp a try for a couple of reasons. The first being the most obvious, since they are putting on the marathon, one would think they would know how to train people for it. The second, I've heard good things about their program, plus I already knew a couple people participating in the program and it never hurts to have a few familiar faces around. The official start was today.

Well, I'm hoping that this is one case where first impressions are wrong. Today was a mixed bag of thoughts, some positive, some negative. Even though I'm surprised at the number of negative thoughts, it will probably make for better blogging, or at the very least it will be interesting to see how this plays out for the next 18 weeks. Most of my negative feelings come from I expected more. We picked groups based on our pace and those groups have team leaders. Granted, my group has three leaders, but by my count it also has twenty seven runners. I guess I expected a group size somewhat smaller. Maybe they expect a certain level of attrition, but the camp makes a big deal about knowing your fellow runners, there's no way I'm remembering twenty seven names! When I say I expected more, I didn't mean larger groups, I was hoping for a more personal feel.

Running has an interesting dynamic where it's really you versus yourself. Sure, you really are racing against other people, but at least for me, I have many conversations with myself as I'm doing it (as I look over my shoulder seeing if the guys with the straight jackets are coming). The past couple weeks when running with friends has been much different than running alone, the runs with friends have been much more enjoyable to me. I suppose what that really says is that I don't like having to talk to myself! I was expecting Run Camp to be more social than it was the first day. I figured we'd get into our groups, then do some kind of introduction to get at least some idea of the various types of people. Instead, it was form into groups, go outside do some quick stretches, then start running. At some point during the stretches after I saw about the sixth person put in their headphones, I figured there wouldn't be much conversation during our run and broke out my own headphones (which I wasn't planning on using, but had them with me just in case). At this point, I found humor in fact I joined a group to run, but I was pretty much running by myself, let the fun conversations with myself start.

The run itself didn't go as I would have expected either. Though we started out in what I'd call a herd, by mile 2.5, we were already fairly spaced apart. Where I'd expect the team leaders to act as herders, by mile 3 we were on our own. Then finishing, again I expected at least some kind of interaction of "how did it go?", "here's the plan for the week", etc or even some kind of group huddle. Instead it was only the three or four of us that pretty much stuck together for the run, grab some snacks, check-in that you are back and that's it. For a group run, it didn't stay a group for very long. Weird.

Even though I don't have anything positive to say about the overall experience, I really did enjoy the run. There was a fair amount of black ice out there and it made for a very interesting feeling between running and skating. After mile 3, something clicked and I think I smiled the whole way back. The temp was perfect, I felt comfortable on the roads and my footing, and my body felt awesome. I don't ever remember smiling on the second half of whatever distance I'm going before, normally I'm sure it's a face of anguish.

18 weeks to go, hopefully I didn't pay money to run by myself. I struggled deciding which pace to go with, it's probably still too early to tell, but that pace felt good. I'm still somewhat torn because I'd like to run with friends, but at the same time I'd like to push myself with my pace. Since one of the themes of Run Camp is being positive, my positive outlook is at least with my group, when running on the road my chances of being hit by a car are greatly reduced...lets say 1 in 27. Maybe I'm wrong with my gut feelings and things will work themselves out after week 2.

Surface Swrun

2010-12-02T20:59:00.005-05:00

I get enjoyment when things that logically don't seem to go together, but end up making a pretty good pairing. Running in the winter could be one example for sure. Another, on this night, was seven divers getting together to run a 5K. With the season over for the most part, in both sports, this fun run came at the right time. Divers are a unique bunch and one thing I've noticed is if one of us is doing something, others get very interested and it suddenly becomes maybe I should do that too. This can be both bad (lets push the limits at little more than we should) and good (in this case, lets be more healthy and push ourselves).

The Run Through The Lights race was a free event with a food donation and looped around downtown Kalamazoo. It wasn't a timed event, so it was more of a fun event, but for the two people in our group who hadn't run a 5K before, it was a good starting point. One of who was deathly afraid of finishing last, yet I watched her sprint at the end (and for the record wasn't even close to finishing last). The other new person was already planning on getting us to do a small triathlon together for next year. So, from that point, I think our outing was a huge success. But based on the participation, I have to imagine the whole event was also a success. I think my overall favorite part were the reactions from people in cars as they all had looks of surprise, shock, and maybe even fear as this giant mob of people were running at them. Based on the huge crowd, which was suppose to stick to the sidewalks but we spilled out into the road and took a single lane of traffic too.

One lesson from the night, even though divers seem to be able to talk their fellow divers into some things, it's only by doing. Afterward for dinner to celebrate, none of us could convince the other to attempt The Bomb Burger. It's only a full pound of beef and another pound of fries, yet without actually seeing somebody DO IT, we all passed on that challenge!

Jingle All The Way

2010-11-14T14:04:00.005-05:00

What do I do when the weather starts getting cold? Well, logic says getting out and running of course! Okay, that makes absolutely no sense. In fact, even saying that out loud I expect the guys with the straight jackets to show up. Yet, here I am standing outside in 39 degree weather getting ready to run 3.1 miles. Do you think that's crazy? This is actually a heat wave, two weeks ago I was standing outside at 8 AM, on a Saturday, in 19 degrees to run 4 miles! What the hell is going on?

This is the Jingle Bell 5K. I do like my causes, this race was to help raise funds to fight arthritis, but with every "cause" I choose to support there is usually some ulterior motive. On the surface, this was a run for my Dad. Arthur, our name for arthritis, is pretty darn mean to him. I can't do a damn thing to take the pain away and my measly contribution to run in this race won't find a cure, but running this race makes me appreciate the ability to do something like this probably more than most. I definitely take for granted moving without pain, yet knowing what he goes through, is a reminder to me that someday it's very possible I won't be able to do something like this based on my body not allowing it. When and if that day comes, I don't want to think back and regret not doing something when I could have.

So, standing in freezing temps for this race to start, no big deal. The gun fired, it was pure frustration for the first two minutes trying to get around the mob. Once clear, I swear it feels like that moment in Forest Gump where young Forest's leg braces fall off, his eyes twinkle, and he's off. It felt awesome. My goal was to run the first two miles hard, then coast and use what energy I had left to finish. I'm still working on that "wall" not being there, but I can't run at the pace I want for the whole duration of the race, yet. Running with a my stupid Santa hat on also proved to be slight challenge. Though great pre-race to stay warm, proved very warm at about mile 2.5, so I actually took it off and carried it for a short time. Also, since it was the Jingle Bell race, we all had bells attached to our shoes. Thank goodness for headphones and music, but the real challenge was paying close attention because those bells had a tendency to fall off people. I didn't want to be "that story" of the person who stepped on a bell and ended up breaking something!

Being only my third race, I'm very aware of the stages, excitement, adrenalin, this feels good, this feels okay, how much longer, and damn I'm tired. I'm sure there are a few more, but as I got closer to the end I was tired. Every race so far, I found a villain, somebody who I have to beat. I made it almost to the end before I found my villain. A guy who had already finished the race, came back to meet what I'm assuming was his wife. On the surface, a very nice thing to do. But, she was behind me and seeing him, definitely gave her second wind as she passed me to join him. In my head I actually thought to myself that sucks, I don't think I have the energy to catch her and that's all she needed to push ahead. No sooner did I get myself somewhat depressed about that, then I saw Becca, who wasn't racing and decided to take pictures. That was all I needed, now I had my own cheering section, sorry villain, but I found a whole new gear. Bested her by ten seconds, which brings me to what I learned this race, all pain stops the second that finish line is crossed. Amazing how that works.

Overall, my time was eight seconds slower than my last race. But with my previous running blog entry, the numbers don't tell the whole story. This race was pure gun time, with as far back as I started, the final results don't say it, but I know I easily beat my previous time, which I'm pretty proud of.

Back to my causes and my ulterior motive. On the surface, definitely the perfect race for my Dad, helping to fight Aurthur and bells on my shoes. Seriously, I had the bells on my shoes, just like when I was a baby and he knew once those bells stopped, I was into trouble! But, lets not get into those stories. My ulterior motive, goes back to goals. I'm not running the half marathon in the spring, I'm going to Jingle All The Way, I'm running the FULL marathon!

A Dive Party Contest, Results (in Running)

2010-10-23T22:42:00.003-04:00

The Dry Dive Party has turned into a tradition for us, this was our third year in a row attending. It's good to see our diver friends, hang out, enjoy some food, but lets be honest, it's more about winning a prize! This year was slightly different than previous years, where prizes were luck of the draw, instead it was a photo contest to celebrate our Dive Shop's 30th Anniversary. Talk about right up our alley.

Every party, there is always some social type game going on. We were each given a wrist ban and the object was to collect as many of them as you could. When somebody said dive, diver, or diving and you noticed, that entitled you to take all the wrist bans they had collect. Though I wasn't planning on trying to trick anybody into giving me their band, I wasn't going to let anybody take mine. The easiest way to not slip was not to talk about diving, that was my strategy. Turns out a couple of other people must of had the same idea, because I spent most of my time talking about running. I successfully kept my wrist band, but in the process I may have lost my mind, because I got talked into running the Kalamazoo Marathon. My goal for next year was to do a 10K, but valid points were made that I should at least do a half marathon. I'm now officially signed up for the half, though I going to attempt to approach training like I'm doing the full, because it would be awesome to get that crossed off my bucket list.

Back to the contest, I had big plans and many ideas for cool shots that would win me the big prize. As it turns out, the only pictures we took were from a single dive. Yeah, I still have lots of slacker left in me. I honestly didn't think we took any that were prize worthy, but Becca forced me to submit what we had anyway, couldn't hurt, right? Turns out the one that I had the highest hopes won us 3rd runner up! So, the evening ended a runner up and runner to be.

One of those moments, in Tea Time

2010-10-03T22:45:00.011-04:00

Traveling four thousand miles round trip, driving another two thousand miles by car, one state park, one national park, and four national forests...oh yeah and a brief stop in Vegas all while visiting an old friend should create many memories. The memory that is going to stick with me forever is Tea. Seriously?

I actually did have the inclination to pick a couple other events from the trip as my favorite. Having a wild coyote casually stroll within a few feet in a National Forrest was damn cool. Getting stopped less than thirty minutes in the Casino for being underage and having the security guard guess I was 23, now that was a highlight! But when I really sat back and thought about it, this Tea Event has every element of my relationship with John wrapped into one unique experience, the main being torture to force the other person to try something new, but also that special moment when thinking back to it, it brings an immediate smile to my face.

Barely off the plane I found myself in downtown San Fransisco. John was courteous enough to put the car in park as I put my bags in the car, I think. Did I mention I flew into San Jose? Anyway, it seemed like we were on a mission. Even though part of me thought this was John being spontaneous, he did seem to be checking his phone often for directions, which seemed odd to me. With one turn the signs went from being completely legible to being completely foreign. You guessed it, we were now in China Town. Next thing I know I'm standing in a 20x40 closet of a Tea Store. About to tease John about taking a wrong turn, when I realize this was the mission as John sits down to one of the two baby tables. Now, I'm game for almost anything, but in our relationship making the person try something new....that is the game within the game.

At this point, I should say the extent of my tea experience is Lipton. My world of tea drinking not only was going to get expanded, but I'll say shattered. It's impossible that this blog entry is going to include every detail, or do a very good job of explaining the depth of what went on for the next hour, so as the reader you are really cheated of this experience based on I'm not a writer.

John immediately began chatting with the Tea Girl about his preferences. I admit it, I completely zoned out and worked on taking in the ambiance of this shop. In the back, what I can only assume were mom and dad running the cash register. One wall was filled with row after row of what looked to be urns. The opposite was was filled with tea sets that looked like they were designed for children. It wasn't because they looked like toys, they were beautifully designed out various materials, but looked like tea sets mice would use.

By this time John and the the Tea Lady decided on the first tea we were going to sample. At this point I'm going to throw it out there I'm fairly skeptical, yet I still wasn't exactly sure what we were doing in a tea store in China Town. The Tea Lady went to the wall of urns, selected an urn, then brought it to us. After removing the top, we were presented the tea for aroma testing. I don't have a clue what bad tea smells like, nor could I tell you what great tea should smell like. What I can tell you, is this tea smelled EXACTLY like my cat's catnip! I admit it, I did start looking out the corner of my eyes now paranoid I was about to find myself on Candid Camera or Punked. But, nothing. The tasting continued. A small pinch of this catnip, whoops I mean tea, was placed in this small saucer, water was added, it was covered, and in a what looked like a precise motion the saucer was flipped over by her hand in some kind of tea ritual. That was a lot to digest there, believe me, there was even more going on. In that process, I know my eyes had the look of "are you serious" as the water came from not the traditional tea pot that I know, but from what looked like a Starbuck's Coffee cup with it's own built in heater slash temperature gauge appliance. I know we are taste testing and typically sample sizes are small, but are we really drinking warm flavored water and it's so important that water needs it be warmed by it's own personal jacuzzi in a cup not much bigger than a can of pop? (Like I said, I'm a little skeptical)

Tea Lady now pours from that saucer into three thimbles. I'm sure they have official names, I'm sure John knows them, but I'm basing my description on reality...these were thimbles! A sip later, bottoms up. I did find it cute that Tea Lady also drank with us, I wasn't prepared for the quiz afterward, I quickly learned that after every sip we needed to discuss what we liked about this particular tea. I was caught off guard by this, luckily towards the end, I thought I did a very good job of acting the part of a very interested customer with specific tastes. Oh, I had some much to learn though, I wasn't done yet. Tea's taste different based on the different "pours". That was only the first pour, the second pour (ie serving) would result in a different tastes. It probably was my novice status (or maybe skepticism), but the second and third pours tasted essentially the same, but by this time I was completely in awe of this whole process and couldn't resist acting the part of being very impressed with how the flavor changed over the various pours. At one point Tea Girl even suggested we slurp to get the full taste of the tea. With tea in mouth, suck air over the tea as drinking it down to get the full effect of the taste. This wasn't skepticism, but all I could think of was my mom would be so proud of me slurping tea.

The tasting continued to find John's tastes, but had to laugh Tea Girl also began to predict which teas I'd like, if she only knew. The Tea Girl was a complete wealth of knowledge. We must have tasted six to eight different teas, each had a story, sometimes Tea Girl even broke out the map and showed exactly which region of China this tea came from and what made it special. The whole time, the entire process of smelling the tea prior, making the tea, discussing after each sip, oh and I forgot we also smelled the used tea leaves after all the pours had been completed. Who knew? I certainly didn't and my tea drinking I learned leaves much to be desired. I suppose I could learn to open my Lipton tea packet with more pizazz.

The whole experience was classic John. After almost fifteen years apart, he found not only something on a level I had no idea existed, but the entire chain of events on the surface seems so silly to me based on how my mind works, yet I'm sure seems perfectly natural to him. I'll be utterly disappointed if his goal was simply tasting tea, because everything about this experience defines our relationship, hence was the best moment of my entire trip.

Oh, and for the record, John walked out with $120 worth of tea. The skeptical side of me says John got taken advantage of by an attractive Tea Girl! The logical side of me says $120 was a bargain for the entertainment value alone! We could have tipped $120, walked out without any tea, and then spent another $5 on a box of Lipton and still call it a successful trip.

It's Never Enough, Numbers Lie

2010-09-11T18:57:00.003-04:00

My second 5K is in the books. I improved, yet I didn't. How's that for a politician's response? By the numbers, I didn't improve my time and after all that's how races are judged. I felt faster, my body felt better, yet according to the records I was slower than my first race. What the numbers don't tell is this course was actually measured correctly and it was a true 5K unlike my prior race.

All I can do is guess at what my first race should have been and by my estimation, I improved by about a minute and a half. I'm pretty proud of that. It might not be possible, but I did finish in the top 5 of my age group, now I have a taste for earning a medal. The season is coming to an end, but next season's lofty goal is placing in a race 5K and completing a 10K. Hey, if you are going to dream, dream big! (Running a 10K is going to be much easier than placing in a 5K)

Lets be honest, even if I get 3rd place next year, it won't be enough. I enjoy having a goal and getting it, but the real fun is trying to accomplish it. The same can be said for learning something new, which I always like to do. I did just that racing today which only causes me to shake my head. Granted, this is only my second official race, so my opinion means less than a handful of beans, but the fastest person from the start line to the finish line should win. When racing, there are two times, the gun time and the chip time. The gun time is when the race starts and when you cross the finish line. The chip time is when your shoe (because the chip is attached to it) crosses the start line and then when your shoe crosses the finish line.

What's the difference? Well, in a perfect world there wouldn't be any difference, but the reality is a few hundred people racing all can't start at the same starting line. For an example, in this race, it took me twelve seconds to reach the starting line after the "gun" was fired. Now, logical me would say awards would obviously be based on chip time because that's the true time. My lesson, per the fancy race organization, awards are always given based on gun time. It would be kind of strange to break the tape at the finish line, yet not win the race. But even with that mental image, to me, the fastest person is from point A to point B. If one person starts before the other person, should they really win? I did some looking and this exact situation has happened before in large marathons. A person who started back in the pack actually ran faster than the "winner". I now have a better sense to why people crowd the starting line now.

Just as my first race numbers don't tell the full truth, every race is now somewhat flawed to me. One person did finish ahead of me, only because they started much closer to the starting line than I did. I ran faster, even had to pass and deal with getting around more people, yet in the final results he finished ahead of me. So, even numbers lie sometimes. Oh, and for the record, when I place next year, you won't see my gun time being close to my chip time, signifying I pushed my way to the front to get an advantage!

Earned 5K

2010-08-29T14:08:00.004-04:00

The days and even the minutes leading up to my first 5K were nerve racking. Had I trained hard enough? How would I do? What would my time be? Would I look like I belonged and knew what I was doing, or would I be the one who took a wrong turn and ended up off the course? All those questions and a million more raced through my until the gun fired. At that point, nerves turned to pure adrenaline and all those questions vanished to a single goal of finish!

When I set this challenge for myself, I really didn't know how it would go. As somebody who never ran more than a mile at one time prior to this, I think anything could be viewed as an accomplishment. Looking back on my records, my first 5K times were in the thirty-two minute range when practicing. Two months later, I was hovering at the twenty-six minute mark. At this point, I felt comfortable setting my goal for my first official 5K race to finish in the twenty-five minute range.

When that gun fired, throw all those practices out the window. Being squashed in that mob when everybody starts, it's a whole different feeling. Practices, it's your mind and your watch, that's it. The race, it's one thing to get passed by somebody who looks like a gazelle, it's a completely different story when getting passed by somebody who looks like they'd stop at a McDonald's along the race route. Take this for what's it's worth (meaning I'm not very fast), but I felt like I was shot out of a cannon. That first mile was by far the fastest I've ever ran. Maybe it was all the adrenaline, but it was exhilarating to pass people. What started as a mob, ten to twenty across, soon thinned out to a steady line of people only a few wide. At that point it became sizing people up. I knew full well I wouldn't be able to keep up the pace I started, but settled in pacing myself off a woman that had legs that looked taller than myself. I figured if I could keep up with her, I would be doing pretty darn good. Then the hill hit. This course was advertised as a "flat course" and perfect for PR's (Personal Records). I really questioned who thought this was a flat course the whole time I was running up this huge incline. Which, also separated me from my long legged friend, she was hell and gone by the time I reached the top of Mt. Saint-Flat.

I was tired, the jolt of energy from the start was long gone. Now the voice was saying "What were you thinking starting out that fast? Dumbass". Those few moments of self doubt turned to determination quickly when I spotted what looked like a 4'8" female ninja. I could understand finishing behind the woman giant, but finishing behind this woman with chipmunk legs couldn't possibly happen. Could it? For about a mile, even though my body wanted to stop and rest, I kept willing myself to keep going. It took me to the last corner before I finally was able to muster enough energy to overtake her, the whole time irritated that my legs are twice as long as hers and I'm the one trying to catch her.

The final corner, the finish line came into view. At this point, I knew I was going to accomplish my goal. What's that off in the distance, but the finish line clock and it's reading twenty-two minutes? Are you kidding me? I was gassed, but thought of coming that far under what I thought I could was the driving force to push the last few tenths of a mile. 22:56! A full three minutes better than I was even hoping for!

In the end, that time is misleading. Turns out even though it was an official race with the USRFTGSGE (not the right acronym but it's something crazy like that), I don't think they measure the course correctly. By my estimation, I think the course clocked in at 2.9 miles instead of the 3.1 it should have. Which also explains how I was able to beat my best practice time by three minutes. I know I ran it faster than my practices, but not THAT fast. Had the course been the right length, I'm still estimate I would have finished in the high twenty-fours, which would make more sense, but still beat my goal.

For my first race, it was very fun. I really didn't expect the completive side to kick in like it did. Another huge difference running the race as opposed to practicing out on a trail by yourself, it was awesome having people cheering you on along the way. There were definitely points where I wanted to stop and catch my breath a bit, yet with somebody cheering, I couldn't do it. I'm very curious what time would have been had the course been the correct length. I'm bummed that my first race is also going to be my fastest time for some time. Hopefully, not long, but until I beat that time, I will always feel it's a little hollow just because I know it's not accurate. So, even though I earned this 5K, now I have to earn the time I got!

Just Lookin, Honest

2010-08-16T21:19:00.004-04:00

Now you have to sing this like the Mr. Roboto - Styx song:

Domo Arigato, Mrs. Robo
Domo Arigato, Mrs. Robo
Mata ahoo Hima de
Domo Arigato, Mrs. Robo
Himitsu wo Shiri tai

(How's that to an 80's flashback?)

After spending a few minutes in the pet store watching the antics of these Robo Dwarf Hamsters the other day, was there any doubt they wouldn't come home with me? By the look of it, I think Sweetie Pie may have even fallen in love with them faster. Even though two of them were the ones really playing, I couldn't break up the family, so all three came home with me. The triplets have adjusted to their new home fine. After about fifteen minutes of exploring they were comfortable enough to fall asleep. I've only seen narcolepsy set in that faster in my dad, so they must have realized they had a good home.

The real problem is going to be figuring out names for them. They are next to impossible to distinguish from one another. Becca has the idea of marking each of them with some paint to tell them apart. It really might come down to that, but I'm hoping their personalities will come out and it will be easy to figure out who is who.

Look forward to what adventures these little girls will have.

Only a Matter of Time

2010-08-14T10:51:00.002-04:00

We stopped in to our local pet store for our routine pet supplies for the week. Every trip in includes window shopping all the animals. These Robo Dwarf Hamsters had us cracking up! We missed video an awesome crash, but this moment wasn't too far behind it. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we have these two characters as pets

Secret Agent L

2010-08-05T20:54:00.001-04:00

Every once in a while the Internet surprises even me, well today I found this story: Secret Agent L

The Video explains everything. Great concept, story, and even better execution of her mission. Look forward to watching Secret Agent L's website and hopefully watch this Random Acts of Kindness thing go viral!

Goals

2010-08-02T20:31:00.004-04:00

This picture is roughly ten years old. It was taken with a 3 mega-pixel camera, which happens to be the same mega-pixels my cell phone has (and it's probably time to upgrade it). The composition isn't great, the subject matter looks fairly boring, no fancy light and to most who look at it see only a car. What do I see? I see a accomplished goal and it makes that 3 mega-pixel picture seem like it's about 30 mega-pixels.

That car was not purchased on a whim, an impulse, or a love at first sight viewing on a dealer showroom floor. Months went by as I first researched the car itself. I built it virtually over and over again as I decided on the options. Test drives. Not to mention planning for if I could afford it and how comfortable I would be making the payments. Finally, the negotiating to not only get the price I wanted, but special ordering it to get it exactly the way I wanted it. Why go through all that, it was just a car, right? Well, it was and it wasn't. To me, it was a goal. This was going to be my first major purchase out on my own. It represented hard work and my personality on the exterior, but deep down it was the goal of successful completion of college and getting my first job.

Fast forward ten years and I've been working on another goal. Well, this bog entry is reminiscing about my first major goal, but really it's in celebration of completing my next major goal for myself which became official today.

(Even though I'm extremely proud of myself for my current accomplishment, looking back on that car, I miss it!)

Superman's Spaceship

2010-08-01T20:17:00.002-04:00

This summer has been so busy, old hobbies are getting replaced by new hobbies. I probably shouldn't say replaced, it's just lack of time to do all of them. My digital camera has been collecting dust, instead of shots lately. This weekend was finally a visit to check out the Chihuly exhibit at Meijer Gardens. It's only been open since late April and this was my first visit.

I've been a fan (of the work) of Chihuly since first experiencing his exhibit in Kalamazoo a few years ago. As far as the artist, my impression is that he's pompous and arrogant and I'd probably hate him on a personal level. My overall impression of his works around the Gardens gave me the same impression. Yes, I completely enjoy the designs and appreciate them for what they are. Yet, there's another side of me that thinks it's ridiculous to place purple cat-tail things in a pond that is completely overgrown. Seriously, it almost resembles the crabgrass in my yard. That's the pompous arrogance that makes me want to punch artists in the face sometimes. I want my art to be visually stunning. If it looks like something I could do, then I have a hard time calling it good art.

It really was a great day experiencing the Gardens, the art, and nature with my parents. This one piece reminds me of the spaceship that brought Superman to Earth and it was a Super Day.

GFR

2010-07-28T21:48:00.002-04:00

What is GFR? Here's a hint, it's not Good Foot Refreshment! This was some very cold water off of Mackinaw Island and it was refreshing, but the GFR I'm talking about is called Good Form Running. I suppose it could also stand for Good Free Running-advice, because that's what it ended up being.

This summer is coming dangerously close to the end and I'm slightly embarrassed how few places I frequent. There's the gym, I know I'm hanging out there much too often because the instructors are getting dangerously close to knowing me by name and though not quite at that point yet, they are learning it's fun to give me a tough time and that's dangerous (for me). Next, is the dive shop. There, they definitely know my name and I swear they make the cha-ching sound when I walk through the door. There's the trail I've been getting ready for my 5K on. We are not on speaking terms yet, but that my have to do with I usually give it the finger as I drive off frustrated. Lastly, is my new hang out, Gazelle Sports.

Gazelle Sports puts on a free clinic called Good Form Running (GFR) that I decided to check out tonight. Make no mistake about it, I've already decided a marathon runner I am not, but I am curious to know how I should be running to prevent injuries and overall what form I should have. You know, if you can't be good, at least look good that's my motto. They started out by having us run our normal pace a short distance. Then it got a little weird and they asked us to do the same thing but this time barefoot. This is the point that little voice and says "This is why it's free, they are going to steal your shoes!"

In the end, they didn't steal my shoes, maybe some dignity, but that's it. What they ended up doing is video taping our runs. Then they brought us inside to explain what Good Form Running is. After a brief explanation of the concepts, then it was analysis of our form in painstakingly slow-motion, high definition quality making sure to point out every instance of how we broke any of the rules of Good Form Running. (As a note to anybody who reads this, this might be a slight exaggeration, not to scare you off. I may have added a little extra drama)

The most interesting thing is after getting critiqued then the video started of us running barefoot and magically most of the flaws were gone. Does this mean throw out all your shoes, revolt, resort to ape like behavior? Probably not. Though, admit it, throwing your own poop would be fun! Did I just say that? Ahhh, who reads this anyway? But it's interesting how shoes have changed our natural running style, not for the better, but actually for the worse. I admit it, I like being shocked and I for one never gave much thought to how shoes over the years have added this huge padded heel. Anyway, the concepts are very interesting and definitely worth checking out if you have any interest in running.

Air Show 2010

2010-07-03T21:32:00.001-04:00

It wouldn't be the 4th, without attending the Battle Creek Air Show with our VIP tickets. At least, that seems to be the tradition anyway. I know it's going to be difficult go back to general public admission after getting spoiled with the VIP tickets. When the temps are in the high 80's, blazing sun, it's nice to be able to stretch out, grab a free cold drink whenever you feel like it, and not have sweaty rednecks spilling beer on you. Though, I did seem to gain a special friend who found it necessary to chat with me the whole time I took pictures. Never in the down time between acts or during the acts I didn't care about, only the performances I wanted to take pictures of. Helpful!

This year was different from years past, a true headlining group wasn't booked for the air show. Instead, the showcase performance was a single plane, the F-22 Raptor. Overall, I do like watching the precision of multiple planes flying in formation, so this year was a bit of a let down. The Raptor is a very cool aircraft, it's not to say it's performance was lacking, it just didn't seem as exciting. Though in terms of awesomeness, the single F-22 could probably take on every other military plane at the air show, plus the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angles at the same time and shoot them all down. So, I wouldn't say I enjoyed the prior air shows better out of fear of what it could do to me.

I did get to see two other aircraft I hadn't seen before too, the Harrier and the F-4 Phantom. The Harrier was Becca's favorite. I can see why, a plane that can take off and hover like a helicopter is unique. I couldn't help tease her about it though, for much of it's performance all it did was stand still, which isn't much different than if was just parked on the ground!

They also had rides in a B-25 WWII medium bomber for $400. Even though it would be once in a lifetime type of experience, if I'm going to spend $400 for a plane ride, it better be taking me someplace tropical! Though, I suppose a Raptor ride, I could be talked into paying $400 and landing at the same airport I took off from.

Run Like the Wind, On A Calm Day

2010-07-01T09:37:00.003-04:00

The health kick has started again. It started with The Quest to Find Abs back in Nov. 2008. The Abs never did get found, but I did get in pretty good shape for my trip, which was the real goal. The problem after the trip, most motivation was gone and with summer just around the corner, the thought of being active outside resulted in very few gym visits. Which only lead to the snowball affect, who says it doesn't snow in summer? Not all progress was lost, but it sure felt like it.

It has taken close to three months to undo the eight slacker months. This time around, it's been disheartening and slightly depressing because the scale hasn't cooperated or at least it's been very slow going. Which is somewhat humorous because in this second health kick, I'm actually paying attention to diet. One would think with being more health conscious with diet, this second time around things would have been easier. Not so. I'm also kicking myself for not taking body measurements before, mainly for my own curiosity. But it's easy to see progress with weights using my workout app for my phone. Though, I have to admit, the best source of motivation has come from two out of the blue compliments by people asking if I've been working out. I didn't even have to pay them, or drop any hints!

So, that's the back story, now to the actual goal. I think most people have finishing a marathon on their Bucket List. I'm no different. But unlike most with that dream, getting up off the couch and running a marathon is unrealistic, I know it. Lets face it, 26.2 miles is #$^@'ing crazy! Even though, I think it would be awesome to say I finished a marathon, that as a goal isn't even on the horizon. Hell, it might be a different planet even. If it's one thing I've learned in life is set small goals that put you towards your dream, not your dream as the goal.

My plan is simple, run a 5K, 10K, a half-marathon, then maybe a full marathon. It's great to say that, but then the next step (besides doing it) is committing to it, so I'm officially entered in my first 5K EVER, the St. Metro Cruise 5K! It's about two months away, so it gives me plenty of time to get some training in. Looking at some of the times posted from last year, I think the only chance I'd have at placing in the top three for my age group would be running with a baseball bat and going all Tonya Harding on people, so I won't be doing that. A goal of just finishing seems too easy on this one, so my personal goal is finishing with a time around 25 minutes. If I can do that, I'll be pretty damn happy.

You know me, if I'm doing something new, there's almost always a tech thing involved. I've got a phone app that tracks my progress, if you want to follow me without breaking a sweat, you can do so HERE.

C'mon wind!

Lessons Learned at 120ft

2010-06-27T07:37:00.003-04:00

I'm about halfway through a book called Diver Down, it's about SCUBA related accidents. Why read a book that's basically true horror stories about the hobby I really enjoy doing? I could sum it up as the same reason people watch NASCAR (which will be the first and only time you ever see that word in this blog), for the crashes. The same reason we can't look away at the replay in super-slow-mo of the running backs knee bending the wrong way after the big hit. But, it's not for reasons like that. Really, it's about knowing what to do in the event of a problem. Though, I must admit, the title of the book should be Diver Down, Because of Poor Decisions Before Entering Water. So, I'm not really getting what I'd like from the book.

Some friends were heading down to the Quarry in Ohio for the weekend. We decided to join them, with our primary goal being diving the deep side and setting a new depth record. Once there, we had to file a deep dive plan and get it approved. That turned into being slightly more difficult because we were required to have one of five extra safety devices, none of which we had. Luckily, our friends had one, a small tank of air called a pony bottle, and they let us borrow it.

Down we went. The pony bottle was thought to be neutral buoyant, but when we reached the 80ft platform, I had my BC inflated more than I ever remember and I was still slowly sinking to the bottom. The little voice from the book said "maybe you should take some weight out", but I continued on. At the 117ft mark, Becca and I placed our hands out together and slowly dipped them down until our computers both read 120ft. Woot, our new goal! As tradition holds, it was high five time and no sooner did we do that when my regulator started free flowing. Our dive plan called for us only to stay down for five minutes or 2000 lbs of air left in our tanks. Becca had already began swimming to a boat that we could see, so she didn't know what was going on with me. The boat was so close, we weren't going to be down long, I figured I'd just keep my eye on how fast my air was going down. This is the point where I did actually think back to the book and I told myself, this is pretty much stupid decision time, and you are doing it. We got to the boat, but that time I was at around 2500 lbs, so it was going down faster than normal, but not that bad. We swam to one more boat and it's at that point I gave Becca the turn around signal and we went back to the platform.

At the platform, or at least the cables that reach to the bottom, I still had around 1800 lbs of air. By the time we reached the actual platform at 80 ft, I was under 1000 lbs. At this point, the heart got beating. Not only were we still down 80 ft, but we needed to do a three minute safety stop at 60ft, plus the normal one at 15ft. At 60ft, I attempted to show Becca what was going on. Looking at her, I could tell she was happy to break our record as she continued to smile happily as we looked at each other. I thought she would think it's odd how bubbles continually flowed from me, but she just happily smiled at me. Unable to think of a signal to explain to her, I choose the obvious of showing her how much air I had left. We are usually very similar with our air consumption on a dive, so when I showed her my computer with now 700 lbs of air in it, her eyes got as big as saucers. She immediately got ready to hand over her regulator if I needed it. I always knew I could fall back on that, but already had it in my head that 500 lbs was my cut over point. We probably stayed at our stop less than normal, but once I got to 500 lbs, I decided to head up again. Low and behold at 50ft my regulator stopped free flowing and all was well. I think I ended with around 300 lbs, which it's typically to end a dive with around 700 lbs. Normally we get a dive of around an hour in, this time it was about a sixteen minute dive.

Although it did get more exciting, it never got to a point where I was in any real danger. If anything, the pony bottle gave me more of an excuse to push on, just knowing I had it just in case. Talking it over with some experienced divers in our group, it was painfully obvious to hear how they would have dealt with the situation. But, that's also one thing that comes with experience. So, even though I'm reading about situations in that book, I think it's more helpful being in them and learning from them after. A new depth record, a few fast heart beats, and knowledge what to do next time we experience a free flow...made for a good dive.

Been Awhile

2010-06-26T21:54:00.000-04:00

Talk about a desert wasteland, are you kidding me I haven't made a post since there was snow on the ground? Wow. I know what you're thinking, it must be because I've been so busy on crazy adventures all over the world...you know after winning the lotto. Okay, back to reality. Well, here's what I've been up to ! Think I had a birthday somewhere in there, did get started back in the gym routine again, some diving, and that's about it. Not exactly blog worthy events, so that's my excuse for not updating very often.

Anyway, I'm not dead and hope to add some adventures soon.

46 Degrees, Time to Ski

2010-03-08T19:34:00.001-05:00

Remember how I posted how much skiing I was going to do this season? Well, that really didn't happen. Now, I could make all kinds of excuses to why that didn't happen, but lets face it, if I'm too lazy to ski, do you really think I'm going to spend time typing? The reality of the situation is I'm getting older and even though I'm awesome on skis, I chickened out with my vacation getting closer. Granted, I could have fun sitting on a beach in a cast, but I'd rather be diving and I doubt they make dive rated casts. Though I'm disappointed I didn't get more skiing in, what really pains me is the stack of unused free passes I have.

It was setup for a gorgeous week of weather and I knew it was now or never to use some of those free passes. I grabbed my ski buddy and off we went after work. The skiing wasn't the greatest, but the price was right! The lines were pretty good too, as in none, just how we like it! There were only a handful of people on the slopes and even though it felt like skiing on a giant Slushy, it was better then I expected. Since this was only my third time out this season, I decided not to break out the shorts....but I was tempted.

Very glad we got this last chance in. Turns out they closed on the 10th, may I interest you in buying a few free passes?

Photowalk Revisited

2010-03-05T22:51:00.004-05:00

Almost two years ago, I experienced my first Photowalk. Though I've only gone once since, it has again caused a new experience, in an indirect way this time. The artist directly responsible for getting our Photowalk group together in the first place was back in town again, this time, displaying her work in an event called Art Hop.

Now, I had heard of Art Hop before...okay maybe I had barely heard of it before. My only knowledge of it had been passing a little grandma type woman in a parking garage and sharing a moment of our current travels. I had just cultured myself with what I'm sure was a violent movie at the theater and she on her way back from the Art Hop. She did say it was rather fun and I should give it a try, but I'm sure I wrote it off as the wine talking and not her based on her rosy checks. Having somebody I "knew" displaying their work was a much greater incentive to give it a try, so tonight was the sampling.

I'm learning that listening to little grandma types is probably decent advice (but you didn't hear that from me). It was a rather different experience and I can't say I had any real expectations, but it made for a fun evening. There was a good turnout with the number of people and one of the more enjoyable things which I find odd (seeing that I was there to look at art) was witnessing the people interactions. It seemed like every few minutes somebody was bumping into an old friend. It's strange how some small details stick, but I found myself wondering it was simply luck, happened to be lots of liked minded people together in a small area, if it just so happens that Kalamazoo is a perfect sized town, and if this phenomena would translate to larger cities or would disappear completely. Overall, the art, I thought was mediocre. I liked a few things, but not even close enough where I'd debate about purchasing, but that's art.

The next Art Hop is April 2nd, and I'll go again.

Little Cayman Day 6 - Best for Last

2010-02-05T15:55:00.003-05:00

The briefing started just like all the dives this week, "60 minutes, max of 110 ft". Becca and I just looked at each other and smiled. Without a spoken word, I knew what she was thinking. Of course I was thinking the same thing, "max of 110, what are they going to do, kick us out on our last day?" At 113 ft I found not one, but two lionfish together. I'm going to take the blame for this, but the discovery of the lionfish changed the dive plan. It wasn't until we came up that I found out how bad Becca wanted to hit 120. In the end, our guide wasn't even around to catch the lionfish, so we missed our chance to increase our record. If I could do one thing over from this trip, we should have done this. I hate it when Responsible Mark shows up, when Cool Story Mark was a measly seven feet away.

The dive site was called the Bus Stop and I think I'll remember it for more reasons than missing my chance to hit 120 ft though. One of the women on the trip had a dream earlier in the week about one of our guides, Dottie, driving us on a bus instead of the boat and at some point either she was naked or we were all naked. Either way, it made for a funny visual and it summed up the attitude of the boat (group) for the week. We really did get paired up with a good group of people and it made the time spent on the surface enjoyable.

Apparently, stingrays like Bus Stops too because we ended up finding five of them. We spent a good chunk of time watching two playing together. I think it worked out well, once they separated, Becca and I tormented one of them with the camera and video camera while I hope the rest of our group could enjoy the other one. We also found one hiding, completely covered in sand, only eyes sticking out. Up until this point, never had I found two together, let alone one not moving.

The last dive of the vacation, I don't know if it was my imagination, but it sure felt like everybody was moving a little slower. Trying to conserve air, make the dive last a little longer and take in more. My final minutes of my underwater vacation were spent watching a hawksbill sea turtle having breakfast. He probably didn't think so, but I thought the moment was very peaceful. For once, no cameras, just enjoying the moment. Then it was time to come up. Even though this seemed like a deep moment for me and you begin to wonder if somebody else is writing this, I'll ruin it with this, at my safety stop I finished trying to buddy breath with a barracuda. Go figure the barracuda didn't want to share air, but I thought it would make for a humorous picture.

Even though I labeled this post as the Best for Last, it's really hard for me to pick what my favorite dive of the trip was. I absolutely loved diving the Tibbetts. The night dive, with the UFO squid was spectacular. The Bus Stop was also special in it's own way, so I'm calling it a universal tie.

It hardly seems fair, but our diving ended today. Sure we still have about twenty-four hours left on the island, but it went by so fast, even with the initial problems. I did get seventeen dives in (Becca got eighteen) and I did accomplish my one goal of seeing a shark, so I have to say in the end it turned out to be a great trip. When's the next one?

Little Cayman Day 5 - Night Life

2010-02-04T21:33:00.001-05:00

I love to party! The girls, the dancing, the drinking, the smoking (did you know that the Caymans have Cuban Cigars) did I already mention the girls? Granted anybody reading this blog probably already knows me, but in case you don't, I'm going to let you in on a small secret, if I ever mention dancing in a positive way....it's a sure bet that I'm using sarcasm and watch out the BS is going to be getting deep.

Little Cayman is not Cancun, no spring breakers here. It's not Vegas, it definitely sleeps, usually by 8pm most nights. It does do it's impression of American (Idol) Karaoke on Friday night, which almost had me swimming to Cuba. The real night life, in my opinion, happens on Tuesday and Thursday the night dives. In our case, Thursday. As luck would have it, a buoy needed for navigation was missing on Tuesday, so we only got one night dive this trip.

Diving three times a day is tiring by itself. Today we did four, well most of us. Wait, make that only Becca and I. We were the only ones of our group to sign up to do the night dive, guess we know who the true divers were. It was an extra $60, which I thought a little pricey, but thinking back to our Cozumel trip, the night dives were my favorite. Just like our trip, the night dive started out slow. The first fifteen minutes of the dive, nothing. I did come face to face with a large barracuda, then a good sized lobster and then a lemon ray, but hardly something to make a cool dive. The whole time the little voice in my head, "I spent extra money on this?". A good sized crab eating, then small spotted lobster, a puffer and a turtle, better probably worth $30 at this point. Finally, an octopus and not just a brief glimpse, but a solid five minutes! Worth it! Then a bonus, a school of squid that looked like a formation of UFO's, now this is some night life!

The evening ended with a boat ride in what I can only describe as a planetarium. The number of stars visible from the resort far out numbered a typical sky back home, but on the boat away from the lights of shore, amazing! Yup, sign me up for the night life!

Little Cayman Day 4 - The Hunt

2010-02-03T20:33:00.001-05:00

Now that the vacation turned into what it was suppose to be, I was ready for my secret wish to happen, seeing a shark. Though I knew Little Cayman was hardly the shark capital of the ocean, I had read reports that an occasional reef, hammerhead, or whale shark were sometimes visible along the walls. It just so happened that on our first dive of the morning at about ninety feet, I was able to give Becca the official signal for shark (hand to the top of the head, for fin out of the water JAWS made famous). Of course the reef shark was probably at a hundred and thirty feet, so a good forty feet below us, and hardly a man eater seeing as he'd probably choke trying to fit even a small extremity of mine in his six to eight foot body, but still our first official shark! Sure, we have seen a number of nurse sharks, but they don't count. Nurse sharks are just like my cats, they find a nice place to lay down and all they do is sleep. It wasn't up close and personal and it wasn't very big, but I'm calling this my first official shark dive.

One would think that seeing a shark would be the most memorable event of the dive, it wasn't. The king of the jungle (or is that deep in this case) is the Lion, okay make that Lionfish. The Lionfish are an invasive species that have the potential to change the reefs for the worse. Though actually very beautiful, they have a tremendous appetite and unfortunately don't have any natural predators, well besides Dottie and Phil (our dive guides). On this dive Dottie was with us and ended up catching and killing four of them. I was lucky enough to get video of her netting one and I believe Becca is the one who spotted it. Not to be outdone by Becca, I found my own and although I don't know if it's the one Phil caught, I'm pretending it was. For the day, our boat ended with seven confirmed kills, which by sounds of the complaining coming from the other (faster) boats, I think it was a record.

It was satisfying to think that I helped do my part to help keep the reefs safe. In the end, I know it didn't even scratch the surface of the problem. Although my resume shows lack of experience, I would like to make it known that any resort or island in the Caribbean willing to pay my way and fill my tanks, I'll gladly hunt Lionfish on every dive.

Little Cayman Day 3 - Wrecks, Always Make Me Smile

2010-02-02T17:29:00.001-05:00

Smash, crash, shatter, break to smithereens, it doesn't matter on the verb describing what happened, the fact is, something was destroyed in a spectacular fashion when a wreck is involved. To say it's always been that way, is probably an understatement. Now, my dad would say that I did my fair share of wrecking things as a kid, mainly his radio equipment. Personally, I think I got blamed for the things he broke! I know I'm not alone when it comes to viewing carnage though, any time spent backed up on the expressway, it's almost always because people are rubber-necking an accident, so I'm not the only one.

This trip had the makings of a small train wreck in progress the way it started out. Who knew that an actual wreck would get the trip back on course though? For a mere $30 extra, we had the opportunity to take our boat over to the sister island of Cayman Brac to check out a sunken Soviet frigate, designated 356, but called the Tibbetts after the man who had her sunk. Diving purists I'm sure will scoff at the thought of diving a wreck sunk on purpose, but I don't care. Little Cayman is known for it's wall diving, Cayman Brac seems to be known for this wreck. The thought of accomplishing both types of dives on two different islands on the same trip was far too tempting, so Becca and I were the first ones to sign up for the trip.

The boat ride out was about forty-five minutes, which wasn't too bad. They did give us the more reliable boat, which meant it was almost twice as fast as the barge they stuck us on for the week. The seas were choppy that morning and I know Becca was happy to get in the water after bouncing across the waves (I think she was most concerned about also feeding the fish, and didn't want to take the title from me).

I have no idea what the rush was, but all the divers went rushing to the bow once in the water. That worked out perfect for Becca and I. We dropped down to the aft of the ship, swam along the starboard side nice and slow. By the time we got to the bow, everyone was gone, then we came up the port side and back to the aft again where we came up. Even though we had 15 to 18 people on the boat, the two of us were alone for almost the entire dive, which was awesome for pictures and video. I honestly don't care if that ship was sunk on purpose, it was frigg'n (frigging because it's a frigate) cool! When the Tibbetts was sunk, it's bow came to rest over a small shelf and a subsequent storm cracked the bow down the incline. Even though I know better, it looks like it struck a mine and suffered a horrible death. This development only adds to the wreck's personality.

This dive is one of my favorites to date. The ship was so easy to see with the visibility, it hasn't been on the bottom long, but has plenty of life around it already. With as serious as we take diving, it also provided us a chance to get pictures of us riding the guns and bow, so it had every element to make it a memorable dive (cool, yet give us an opportunity to goof off) and it was perfect timing to provide a change of pace to all the wall diving we had been doing.

Doesn't matter the circumstances with how it got that way, a good wreck always makes me smile! Officially, this was the turning point of the trip.

Little Cayman Day 2 - What goes down, comes back up

2010-02-01T20:05:00.002-05:00

Sure glad that all the problems of the trip were behind us now! I spent extra time and care putting my new camera housing together, after all this morning would be it's first official dive. To say anticipation was flowing through the veins would be an understatement. All the gear was assembled prior to breakfast.

At breakfast, I had some cold cereal, bacon, a danish, and some OJ. There did seem to be some confusion though, apparently the act of pointing to her seat is the Jamaican symbol for wanting two omelets, because Becca ended up with two cheese and ham omelets. I was perfectly content with my breakfast, but to help my dive buddy not look wasteful with her order, I forced down an omelet. Good thing that wetsuit of mine stretches!

Dive time! Our dive site for the morning was the Mixing Bowl. I've heard wonderful things about this site. I can't wait to be able to dive my own gear to the 110 ft limit, play around with my new camera, and check out this famous site. This turtle, I've decided is my first subject, we bonded, and he/she posed for me along the wall. After the wall, the Mixing Bowl has white sand bottom good for rays and smaller things. It was at this point I had a headache starting, so I decided to hand the camera over to Becca and relax for the rest of the dive. We continued the dive until we got back under the boat. I didn't think my headache was too odd, but now I started feeling a little queasy. I gave Becca the signal that I wanted to go up, but she still had three minutes to go for her safety stop. I didn't feel great, but I didn't feel horrible so I decided to hang out with her. A small barracuda decided to chill with us at our safety stop. The three minutes passed, up we went, at five feet from the surface my stomach turned upside down. I broke the surface, pulled my regulator out of my mouth and out came breakfast. Now, there's a reason they call it feeding the fish, breakfast didn't agree with me, but the fish sure loved it as they swarmed me. Granted, you never feel great when you are vomiting, but all I could think about was that barracuda rushing in to take out one of these fish and leaving me with bite marks, vomiting was the least of my worries that that moment in time. Luckily, nothing happened and my imagination was greater than a stray bite.

I got on the boat looking even more white than the day I arrived on the island, if that's possible. Of course the crew of the boat were concerned that I did something stupid and they would need to put me on oxygen. The only real treatment I needed was keeping me away from those omelets in the morning, and I learned that lesson all on my own!

I did sit out the next dive, which of course I felt fine fifteen minutes after everybody went down, but it probably was for the best anyway. Up until this point, I thought my navigating the South Haven pier would be my most embarrassing dive moment. I suppose it's still probably worse, but expelling breakfast on calm seas isn't a very proud moment either! Thanks dive buddy, I owe you for this! I suppose it doesn't matter in the end, provided when we go down, we both come back up.

Little Cayman Day 1 - Rental

2010-01-31T20:03:00.002-05:00

The day started waking up at 6 am (which was planned) to the ceiling fan slowly spinning down and coming to a stop. Odd. Did we just lose power? Sure enough, the power went out. What a way to start a vacation! Did you know that on Little Cayman the water doesn't work when the power is out? So much for a shower. At this point, I actually made the comment to Becca that "at least we are guaranteed the sun will come up". Her response, "I'm not so sure". The good news is the power outage only lasted 45 minutes.

First order of business was getting down to the dive shop and securing rental gear. It wasn't a thrilling prospect not having my gear to dive with, but this trip would quickly turn to a disaster if I missed dives. Talk about insult to injury, this trip already had a feel of a Nation Lampoon's Vacation movie in the making, but I was very surprised with dive shop and I saw a glimmer of hope that the vacation would get back on track. Luggage not showing up must be a common occurrence because within just a few minutes, they had me outfitted with everything I needed to not miss any dives. Even though I was grateful to have rental gear, if my gear has feelings, I want it known how much I love it...there is NO COMPARISON!

The morning brought more good news, because a number of other people in our group were also missing luggage, the morning dives would leave a little later in the morning to allow the first plane to hopefully bring more bags. Another interesting fact about Little Cayman, there are no runway lights, planes only land in day light. The first plane landed, the bags were rushed to the dock we were standing on, the news only three bags didn't make it. Can you guess it? Of the three bags that didn't make it, Becca and I were two of them! Talk about the unlucky of the lucky.

There was no way I was getting in the water with my expensive new camera gear with rental gear I never dove before, so the goal of the day was avoiding whatever other bad luck lay in wait in the depths for us (mainly that shark). Keeping with the theme of karma, though our boat was very nice with lots of room, it was suffering from mechanical problems and was the slowest boat of the fleet. Our group was humiliated a couple times as the other boats passed us, once signaled by the swimming motion and the worse one, getting mooned by some very white butts.

Only experiencing Cozumel, I figured our first dives would be to less popular spots to let the dive masters check out how competent we were. Once in the water, my first thought was that if this is a "bad" spot, I can't wait see a "good" one. The purple coral fans along with the color and condition of the coral was amazing. It was also very apparent how impressive and shear the wall is on Little Cayman. At one point there is bottom at 40 feet, swim another 20 feet, and the bottom is completely gone to a very dark blue nothingness. There isn't gradual anything, it's either bottom or no bottom.

Our luggage did show up at some point and our gear was waiting for us outside our room when we got back to the resort after the first two dives. I didn't run up and hug it, but I did look forward to being able to dive deeper than 60 feet and not have it feel like I was breathing through a straw!

The highlights of the day included seeing a sea slug moving. I know that doesn't sound exciting, but it was cool to finally see one moving. Up until this point the only sea slugs we saw were, umm slugs. Think of a caterpillar underwater. On the second dive we did a fun swim through called Marilyn's Cut. The story goes that Marilyn cut her finger on some coral and it attracted some sharks, so she hid from them in this swim through until the sharks gave up. On this dive, we witnessed something that only happens once a year, a school of thirty-eight grouper swimming to the west end of the island for their spawning season. The last memorable event of the day was watching an iguana eat a cherry from a drink. I didn't see any cherry trees on the island, but apparently this lizard acquired a taste for them and learned if he hung around the bar at night, his chances vastly improved at finding them.

Extra Lead

2010-01-26T08:00:00.002-05:00

Dec. 3rd:

Becca - "Our trip is approaching, put any thought into getting an underwater housing for your good camera?"

Mark - "Part of me says we spend too much time messing with camera stuff, I'm thinking this next trip we should leave the gear on the surface and go down and enjoy the moment."

Jan 7th:

Mark - "You know, it would be nice to come back with some great pictures, maybe I'll just check out what options I have."

Jan 8th:

Mark - "Becca, how much room do you have in your luggage? Oh yeah, and you can forget about any comment I made about diving and enjoying the moment"

Becca - "Thought so!"

What started as good intentions of trying to burn in some great memories of a fantastic dive a month ago, not to mention being financially responsible, quickly changed as our vacation drew ever closer. The reality of the situation is, I have my parents genes and I see their failing memories, there is no way I'm taking a chance forgetting something cool! These trips don't happen as often as I like, I have to have something to capture the moment with something more than just my mind, I want hard copies...you know just in case my mind fails. Plus, it's darn fun to have new toys to play with.

First there is the housing, to keep the camera safe. Then two ports were needed for the two different types of lenses. Finally, a strobe to make all the colors pop. When it was said and done, my wallet is what went on a diet this month. So, I'll be wearing extra lead for my sudden weight loss this trip. But, all it takes is that one shot to make it all worth it though.

Vacation, here we come!

Back to Back

2009-12-19T17:11:00.002-05:00

Step one, grew the beard.
Step two, got some friends together.
Step three, concoct a plan.
Step four, execute said plan.

Who said skiing is hard? I suppose that all depends on the landing, but we'll get to that part. With a single vacation day left before the end of the year, it wasn't too difficult to figure out a good use for it, especially after working a month on my awesome skiing beard! It also helped that Caberfae was running $9 lift tickets and since we would be in the area, our friend Cori had a seasons pass to Crystal Mountain, so the decision was made to have back to back ski days.

We started at Caberfae on Friday. Becca and I are the more traditional skiers. Cori is part of the new generation that thinks snowboarding is cool (it's not). With six pairs of skis loaded in the blazer, I thought it was a bit of overkill, but Becca talked me into trying some newer technology skis. Call me old school, but I like my pair of skis I had in high school best. The new skis didn't turn that much better and because they are shorter actually felt scary at speed (or maybe I'm just getting older). It was a great day for skiing, the snow could have been better, mainly man made snow on top, but the temps were great. Once we broke out the camera, it was easy to take pictures without gloves, and still feel fingers.

It was hard to say the highlight of the day, it was funny when after lunch we came out to get back to it, only to find that Cori's lock wouldn't open. We thought we would need maintenance to come and cut it open, the Becca used her super man strength to force it open. The other highlight was getting to ski with my old high school skiing buddy, Steve. He was able to join us in the evening and get a few runs in. Fifteen plus years later, the two of us still rule the Caberfae slopes.

Saturday we were back at it, though this time we went to Crystal Mountain. After a full day of skiing on the day before, all of us were moving slower on Saturday. We still got many hours of skiing in. All said, in two days, we got 40 miles of skiing in (with chair lifts) which I think entitles us to some sore muscles and maybe a pair of sore backs (back to back). Speaking of sore backs, here's why Cori's back is sore, oh yeah, don't land like this:

Becca is a Mommy!

2009-11-29T08:03:00.004-05:00

You heard that right, Becca is a mommy! Now, normally if I said that statement, all you'd see is a trail of dust and I'd be writing this from a warm, tropical, non-extradition country. In this case, I'm confident that the DNA test will prove I'm not the father, but I have a feeling I'm still going to be stuck paying child support regardless how the test comes back.

Our Black Molly was looking especially bloated and also developed a few white spots, so to be safe Becca moved her to a quarantine tank. She spent a few days there, her spots seemed to go away and also seemed to lose some weight. She then was put back in the big tank and it wasn't until Becca started cleaning the quarantine tank that she discovered little babies. Only two survived and now Becca is playing mommy to them. I'm going to take the typical (adopted) father approach of not caring until they reach the age they can actual do something.

Even though I'm not going to win Father of the Year, it will still be kind of cool if we can raise them.

I setup a Fish Cam to view the tank. At this point, it's not possible to see the babies, but at least it's possible to check out some of the action. When the page first loads, it only shows a still picture, so click on the Video/Java button.
Fish Cam Link

Wine-ing is Fun

2009-11-28T18:04:00.005-05:00

Did this summer have a goal? I have a vague memory of hoping to mountain bike thousands of miles this summer. Priorities change and it may of had something to do with constantly tipping over in the new clipless pedals, so I'm changing this summer's goal to get out and visit some of the local wineries. I know it's now officially Fall, tough, stop wine-ing!

Our first visit this year was to St. Julian's over in Paw Paw. Both Becca and I really enjoy a couple of their wines before we even visited, so we figured this was the best place to start. We had a good tour of the facility and enjoyed tasting a number of their wines. The most memorable wines for me were a couple of brandies. A couple of them were so potent, Becca decided she wanted no part of them and forced me to finish them off. But there were two that reminded me of drinking Smucker's jam, they were that sweet. Now, I've never been one to drink jam, so I can't imagine doing that, but it was a very unique taste that's for sure.

Our second visit was to a local place in Kalamazoo called Tempo Vino. Last year we received a gift certificate for them and hadn't used it. Turns out it's downtown Kalamazoo and very easy to get to provided you are already down there to see a movie, which is what we did. For the record, I can't tell the difference between a $10 bottle of wine and a $40 bottle other then one makes my wallet lighter. For this hole in the wall place in downtown Kazoo, I'm shocked at how many wines I liked. I was equally impressed with the woman conducting the tasting for us who spoke perfect English, answered the phone and switched to Greek, and also knew Italian. All there wines are in my price range and I thought all were wonderful. They have some fruit wines that are out of this world.

That tasting at Tempo Vino went so well, that we decided to do another tasting that same day and go back to Paw Paw and try the other winery there called Warner's. I'm not even sure if they do tours or not, but for the tasting, I really liked the atmosphere. It felt as if we were in a 1800 dungeon as we tasted. I was expecting to see a head roll out from a guillotine at any moment. It never happened, so that's a strike against Warner's, but they had what is now my current all time favorite wine, Peaches and Honey. That sounds strange, I admit, but it was outstanding!

The last place we visited was Natural Wines from Peterson and Sons. I'm going to start with this tour was by far the most memorable of the bunch. First, it's run out of the basement of his house. Walking up, I could hear the banjos playing the Deliverance tune. My gut feeling was right because once inside we were actually given a set of rules to follow when wine tasting! The two that stick with me is never touch the glass as he's pouring the wine and you must drink the water he pours in your glass between tastings (which I think there were a total of ten rules). I honestly thought the guy had a shotgun pointed at my head from under the bar, it was interesting to say the least. In the end, we walked out alive and with a certificate that we survived the Wine Notsee. I'm not sure if the wine didn't leave an overall impression on me, or if it was his character that overpowered everything else. Either way, this was definitely an experience to remember!

So, I didn't tip over stuck to my bike this summer. But, I may need a tip-over as in a nap from all our wine tasting. It's been an adventure!

Chicago

2009-09-06T20:21:00.002-04:00

I didn't win the 350 Mega Millions lotto, but I did get a taste of the good life and I must say that I enjoyed it! It would be a struggle, but I think I could adjust to that lifestyle very quickly. The hardest part would be trying to stay in shape, I think I lost three arteries this trip alone, but it was totally worth it. This weekend consisted of eating vast amounts of food, an aquarium visit, an art museum, a gorgeous city skyscraper night scene and an oh by the way wedding (No, not mine...do you think I'm crazy?)!

This weekend was a huge weekend for me. It was the start of the new Michigan football season. It's not every day a relative gets married either. Even with that said, I'm pretty sure I'd miss my own wedding for a Michigan game (Before you judge me, it would have to be a big game). It took some convincing from my Dad to give up my opening season football game, but the promise of visiting my favorite restaurant in the world helped (Don't tell him, but I probably would have also done it for my second favorite too).

The Hotel was gorgeous. The wedding was beautiful. The reception was amazing (and my favorite part). Any reception that starts with the wedding party introduced with "Welcome to the Jungle", it's going to a memorable night. What made the reception awesome? It would be the nine different food stations each run by a different chef. Wow.

The next day was exploring the tourist traps of Chicago. First, was Shedd Aquarium and then we finished with Chicago's Art Museum. I decided that I like Shedd more when there aren't very many people around. Being an aquarium, Shedd likes to give the customer the full fish experience and enjoys packing people like sardines, which really detracts from their amazing exhibits. My impression of the Art Museum, I'm convinced the only thing that makes that art good is that it survived. There were very few paintings that I'd even show off on my walls. I don't know much about art, but I know what I like and I liked leaving the Art Museum!

The last experience of Chicago was the eating. Now, my Dad was very impressed with the lobster omelette and the chocolate waffle I had was damn good. The highlight of the trip was a visit to Harry Carey's, which I'm convinced is the best steakhouse on the planet. My Dad isn't normally a steak eater and once he heard that the 23 ounce porterhouse is what I always get, he wasn't sure he could eat that much. My shining moment of the weekend was watching him surgically shave every ounce of meat off the bone. I'm sure he would have used his hands and chewed on the bone if he could have, but Harry Carey's is a classy place and he had to be on his best behavior. I believe this was my fifth visit and I swear every time I walk out thinking that was the best steak I've ever had. I don't know where they get their cows from or maybe they really are Holy Cows, but they are delicious!

We had such a good time on this visit, we are already planning on future visits, so watch out Chicago!

Epic Fail

2009-08-06T21:28:00.002-04:00

Wow...I changed all my permissions on my Flickr pictures only to find that it changed the links. Well, it's going to take me forever to fix all the pictures in my blog. Hope you enjoy all the white pictures in my blog! This isn't exactly the housecleaning I had in mind.

Get out of Jail Free Card

2009-07-23T09:00:00.004-04:00

In my internet travels, I found the site Kiva.org. I can't even remember how I stumbled on it, but the concept intrigued me enough that I had to give it a try. The object is helping people. Okay, now I really know what you are thinking, "how on earth did Ace find this site?". Seriously, I don't know, the point is I found it and that's all that matters! The concept is donating a small amount to somebody, typically in a third world nation, to help fund a business venture. I consider it a donation, but if all goes well, the individual who asked for the loan, plays it back and ultimately the money you gave for the loan comes back to you. So, in a perfect world, it's loan and not a donation where it's possible for the same money to be used to help people over and over again.

I picked four individuals who I thought were worthy of my funding, actually one looks like a small village, but I'll pretend it's only one person. Hopefully, the small loan I made will help make their business dreams come true or at the very least makes their lives a little better. Now, don't think for a second that I have a big heart, there's always evil plotting with everything I do. This is really just my master plan for the day I stand before a judge, my defense lawyer can use to show my high moral character!

Here's a link to track my loan progress

The internet never ceases to amaze me.

Traverse (Moomers) City

2009-07-11T20:29:00.003-04:00

Our new friend Cori imposed on us enough! Becca and I finally decided enough was enough and it was time to turn the tables and invite ourselves to her city for a change. She graciously accepted on a moments notice and we drove up for the weekend.

Friday night, I was taught how to make S'mores over the small bon fire in Cori's back yard. It's not like I didn't know how to make them, but apparently my idea was different then theirs. With two girls, sometimes it's best to to pick and chose your battles and I decided this was one not worth fighting over. For the record, when making a S'more, it's half a Hershey's bar, one gram and two marshmallows. The girls, for some reason wanted to only use small pieces of the Hershey's bar, which seemed silly to me.

Saturday was a full day. Our first adventure was climbing the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Due to a tactical navigation error, we didn't reach the top of the dune to overlook Lake Michigan. Instead we came to the top of the dune only to see another steeper dune, then after climbing to the top of that dune was a great view...of more dunes. By that point Becca had enough of the sand of this adventure and we headed back to increase our chances of finding water. The next stop was the scenic tour (by car) where we were able to stop and walk to a lookout. The view is incredible and the water color is amazing (hence the picture). We then headed north and grabbed lunch, continued further north to visit a lighthouse and then stopped at our first official winery. On any given day, that seems like a full day, but we weren't done yet. The next stop was what Good Morning America declared as the best ice cream in America at a place called Moomers. That's a tall tail and I'm not disagreeing with the claim, but I need to do much more "testing" before I'll agree with that claim, but I have to admit, it's pretty damn good.

I don't even remember what we did on Sunday, but we did visit Moomers again. Hmmm, it's growing on me. Oh yeah, we did some geocaching. It just so happened that there was an underwater cache not to far from Cori's place, so we all suited up and did that. I really should admit something here, but I'm not! Cori was right and we'll just leave it at that.

We had a blast and I look forward to crashing at Cori's place unannounced for the ice cream again!

Dive, Dive, Dive

2009-06-30T20:04:00.003-04:00

June 13th and June 14th

This Dive weekend was a special treat because it brought me home to the area I grew up and it also added a new dive buddy. Turns out that an old high school buddy also got hooked by the dive bug and is just as addicted to the sport as I am. We were able to plan a weekend to meet, visit, and get some diving in. It almost felt like we were Jacque Cousteau because our first dive had real purpose. There was rumor that a small plane crashed in Sunrise Lake and even though it had been found, it hadn't been found by us! There were a number of times I got excited thinking we found it, but it only turned out to be a large log. In the end, we didn't find it, but it was still a fun dive. The bottom of the lake had what I can only describe has huge rolling dunes for the bottom, which made for an interesting dive. By the way, it turns out the plane went down in the 60's and there's probably nothing left but the engine block and the local dive shop owner hadn't heard of anyone finding it in twenty years. That just means next time we get together to dive this lake, it will make it that much better when we find it!

The second lake we dove was Wells Lake. We spent an hour and half underwater and still had air to spare! Of course that means we stayed shallow, but we had a blast chasing the local fish population around. The highlight of the day was when Brent found a school of baby fish that had just hatched. They were so small and so hard to see, I don't know how he even noticed them! It took me a few seconds to realize what I was looking at and Becca thought both of us had lost our minds as we had stopped and laid on the bottom to watch.

Hopefully, the three of us can get together again because it was a blast. It was good to find somebody as hooked to the point of almost wanting to dive a mud puddle (that makes me feel better that Becca and I aren't crazy).

June 17th

The day started with the goal of diving the South Haven Pier, it ended diving our normal dive spot of Gull Lake. We got up and drove over to South Haven only to find that the waves were smashing in far more then we wanted, but also a brand new "No Swimming within 50ft of Pier" sign. Discouraged by the weather and the sign but not willing to give up diving for the day, we joked about diving the first lake with public access on the drive back. We ended up deciding to play around with Gull Lake. The point of the dive was to get Becca some practice towing the dive flag around and she got a workout because it was almost as windy as it was in South Haven and she was getting bounced around pretty good. We had great fun with the marine life, I got attacked by a blue gill, which I'm sure was protecting her young. But the best adventure was Becca spotted a crayfish. We startled it a couple times and it scooted backwards to avoid confrontation with us. Twice was enough though, at that point it decided we weren't going to leave it alone, so it stood as tall as it could, opened it's pincers and basically said "Bring it on, I'll take both of monsters on!".

Here's video of the encounter:

July 20th

We typically dive a quarry in Ohio. It's a good quarry, but frankly I dislike everything that's in Ohio. For that reason, I jumped at the chance to give another quarry in a different state, Illinois, a try. A small group of local divers were going to visit and check it out to see if it was worthwhile to send future dive classes there. It's called Haigh Quarry and it turned into a very nice place to dive. It didn't have as many cool objects on the bottom as "the other" quarry, but location, parking, and layout were all advantages. Becca and I ended the day with three very nice dives. Our first major discovery was the mysterious paddlefish that we had never witnessed before. Becca also fished a PADI divers mask off the bottom for him (a NAUI diver knows to never rest the mask on their head!). We also swam away with some decent pictures which is where the blog picture came from. Becca saw a plastic hammerhead shark and decided to give me the signal for shark!

Silver

2009-06-12T09:48:00.003-04:00

The one year anniversary of my dive certification must be silver. My gift, this silver lighter found in Eagle Lake in Decatur. I'm very happy with the colors of the treasures I'm finding this year, the value not so much. I suppose I shouldn't complain, after all I'm coming up muck free.

Somebody really needs to mow Eagle Lake! The weed bed is incredible. It's not like I have tons of diving experience yet, but it's growth was so thick, it did remind me of my time spent in Nam. Even at fifteen feet below the surface, the weeds went all the way to the surface. It made for a challenging swim out to deeper water and once there, we both looked like swamp monsters and spent some time deweeding ourselves.

For the amount of weeds, I would have guessed many fish, but we really didn't see any. Next time, I'm going to bring my machete! We did have some fun trying to pull a boat anchor off the bottom, but only accomplished pulling ourselves in the muck. We also decided that we are not sure what the local divers are doing, we were the first divers in the water and were also the last ones out of the water! Either we are awesome with our air consumption or we still have too much fun underwater even when there's nothing exciting around. I'm guessing the latter.

Tattle Tail

2009-06-11T09:00:00.002-04:00

This is the face of a trouble maker and I'm going to tattle on her! I've been doing so much diving lately, this blog is turning into my dive logbook, so time to relate some of the every day experiences around the house to change it up (plus I already know there will be more diving adventures this weekend)!

It's safe to say Sweetie Pie has adjusted to her new home. The shyness is almost gone. She is well aware of who feeds her and adjusts how well she likes you based on that. Though it's obvious that we don't compare to her original mom, she's now very comfortable. I would argue to the point that her name might not apply anymore. It could be that she is breaking out of her shell, or the other two cats are that much of a bad influence (I'm guessing this is the correct reason), but I caught her being naughty the other night. As a special treat, all the cats got to go out and play in the back yard for a short time. After some typical exploring around, Sweetie Pie decided the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence and she jumped the fence! She is hardly the most nimble cat, but she made quick work of of it once she made her mind up. I jumped the fence (not as gracefully) to follow her and she knew immediately that I had caught her because she jumped right back over.

The little stinker still has a sense of right and wrong and she knew that she got caught, so she headed right back to the house. I'm sure it won't be too much longer before the other two cats teach her there is no shame in getting caught and just ignore the humans like they do. Oh well, it was nice having a good cat for two years. So, Grandma, if you are watching or reading...your cat is naughty (which means she fits right in)!

Even with Failure, Positives Happen

2009-06-08T20:24:00.005-04:00

Phone a friend? A call for help? It's amazing this call didn't go through from the phone booth at the bottom of Gull Lake.

One of the hopes of getting certified last summer was to go after a geocache two miles out in Lake Michigan. The time finally came to trying to make this dream a reality. I called a couple charters, had some options and finally decided to make an attempt for this cache with the cache owner. The boat turned out to be too small, under powered, and the weather didn't cooperate with us. For fear of being one of "those guys" who attempt something stupid and need the Coast Guard to come rescue us, our adventure ended with deciding to dive the pier at Holland. Although disappointed for not being able to attempt our goal, the diving experience turned out to be very positive. Initially the visibility was very good, we were treated to the huge population of gobi fish. Apparently they are kind of a nuisance fish, but I can relate to their personalities and thought they were fun. They lay around on their bellies and only move if threaten. Since we at the pier, it's a popular spot to fish, so the real game became finding snagged lures. By the time it was all said and done, I think we could have started a small bait shop with the amount of gear we found. The water was a cool 52 degrees and with the hour long boat ride in the wind and smashing waves over the bow, I think we were in the water a total of thirty-seven minutes. It was a fun dive all things considered, I'm looking forward to exploring the pier at South Haven now.

Our Wednesday night dive ended horribly this week. It was a game of navigation and about the only thing we did right was surface at the beach we left from. Saturday, we decided to return to our failure and give it another attempt. We navigated much better this time around. Our only problem area this time was me remembering 40 degrees for one of the headings, Becca remembering 47 degrees for that heading, and I'll just say that the object should have been at 40 degrees (I'm sure it was moved)! The picture of this blog was from after we found the phone booth and Becca was playing around and trying to make a call. I've worked on enough phone problems to know the reason she had trouble with the call, water on the line! It was a busy day at Gull Lake, there were two dive groups there doing their open water certification. It was fun to visit briefly with one of the instructors who happened to be our guide in Cozumel. He thought it would be more fun for the three of us to go dive, leaving his class, but we recommended he should do his job. Our navigation problems seem to have been corrected and the other positive, we look much better then the new divers with the year of experience under our belts!

Sunday rolled around and what the heck, might as well make it three straight days of diving! This time we headed back to Lake Sixteen. It was our third visit to this lake and we were hoping for the visibility to be better. Lake Sixteen requires what seems like a long swim to get deep enough to drop down, heading out it was like swimming in pea soup. My initial thought was here we go again. We dropped down to forty feet and it was amazing! Not only could we see, but it was what we could see. Two boats, a couple of signs, our good friend the scuba skeleton, all within view at the same time! Before it took hunting to even find the line to point us in the right direction to a boat. The signs, never saw them before and then the real kicker is finding the boat we stopped at last time was only maybe a hundred feet from where we dropped down at. Last time we swam the course out to it, then turned around and followed the course back. Here that same boat was almost within visibility of our start point. I'm kicking myself for not taking my video camera down. Hopefully, we'll get back here again while the visibility is still this good. We found the car this time, two more boats, and it turned into diving what almost felt like a completely different lake now that we could see. The only thing that wasn't different was the cold! Lake Sixteen is a deep lake and we spent twenty plus minutes at 43 degrees and we both were cold so the total dive time was only around thirty minutes.

Part of me still wants that geocache (which by the way was official found on Sunday, so we can't be the first ones anymore), but overall we got some good, fun dives in this weekend.

Biking, with Purpose

2009-05-29T16:00:00.002-04:00

"All your bases R belong to us" - Storm Troopers haven't landed, but this was some of the gear needed for this weekend (this really is Becca, if you couldn't tell).

This summer was going be all about putting up huge miles for distance. Notice how I already used "was" as the qualifier and summer hasn't even started yet? I'm already predicting that the big numbers I was hoping for aren't going to happen. It will still will be better then last year, which when looking at the positive side, "is" an improvement. I think Becca's "idea" is to get involved with dirt biking and to put on miles the easy way!

This weekend was a trip home to enjoy the local bike trails around my parents house. You know, all the trials that I never used growing up and never knew existed. Even though I wanted to pedal bike, the real purpose was to get Becca a demo of dirt biking with our new friend Cori. I really can't comment on what actually happened, while the girls headed out on the trails, I took the much more dangerous job of geocaching in the area. They had beautiful beach sand trails, I had to blaze trails through dense forest trails that reminded me of my time spent in Nam. They had song birds chirping, I was being chased by swarms of mosquitoes thirsty for my sweet blood. They had a group of helpful guys to tend to their every need on the trail, I had myself to remove at least ten ticks off my body once I got back to the car! Plus, found another three in the car while driving (I'm sure the other drivers thought I was drunk as I trying to catch the little critters)! Well, Becca did do her impression of an ostrich by going over her handlebars and planted her head in the sand, but that hardly sounds close to what I had to go through!

If I'm home visiting my parents, that means one thing, I'm eating. Cori got initiated to pasties. She then initiated us (really just me) to biscuit strawberry shortcake. Apparently because I grew up "urban", I like my shortcake using the easily purchased angel cake way and not the "traditional" home style of my mom slaving in the kitchen for hours. Don't get me wrong, it was good, and Cori can make it for me anytime, but if I'm having guests over, they are getting the angel cake way...deal with it!

We did get to take Cori out for her first official Geocaching experience. Though I'm not sure if she really enjoyed the walking around swamps and playing the slap mosquitoes off each other game. I thought we gave her a good experience when it came to finding various wildlife. It started with me scaring a momma partridge then almost stepping on three of her eight babies. They were pretty cute and reminded me of the candy peeps coming to life and running around. I'm sure Rascal would have loved them as much as the candy peeps as well! Deer, lots of deer. A momma turkey with I believe twelve kids and I believe the consensus favorite a huge porcupine that proceeded to climb down the small tree where Cori found him, to a much larger tree to get away from us (Cori) tormenting him. I noticed that he did stay in the tree, until Cori called him fat, then he got self-conscious.

It wasn't until the end of the weekend that we actually got some pedal biking in. I was totally shocked my parents wanted to go out and ride with us. That alone tells me that I'm not riding enough if they think they can keep up with me! We had a nice ride and I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I think it was my favorite part of the whole weekend. Now you all know how sentimental I am, so that's why you know that for me to enjoy something, it must mean there is some kind of destruction going on, there was! The tent worm population exploded and there were thousands of them running across the trail and were creating ecological terrorism. I put on my Homeland Security hat, raised the terror level, and the game became running them over with the bike tires. My favorite moment of the whole weekend was missing a tent worm, trying to point it out to Becca, only to have her not in a position to get it, but watching my mom line up and crush it with a smile. It only took thirty four years before we actually could enjoy a destructive game together. So, here's my tip for this blog post, if your goal is to bike miles, get some some tent worms on trail. Not only is it a bonding experience, but it's therapeutic and damn fun!

Lake O'Nothing

2009-05-28T20:53:00.004-04:00

Wednesday Night dive night took us to Bristol Lake. With my success last week, I could only feel that this week was only going to bring greater treasure finds! Take a guess at how this ends. My greatest find of the night turned into being cold water. Maybe it was the overcast skies, the rain, or just bad luck picking a path, but we found nothing! I don't think I ever have to dive Bristol Lake again it was that uninteresting, it was simply a vast nothingness that reminded me a prime time tv.

It turned out that it was guess the average dive time of all the divers and win the pot (everybody chipped in a dollar). I picked 43 minutes as my time. 18 minutes into our dive I was already frozen because I found the 46 degree water and I knew it wouldn't fly with Becca that we'd end the dive that quickly, so I navigated us back to shallow water and normal temperatures. We ended with our dives at 57 minutes, both knowing that we had to bump up our time to help our chances of winning the pot. Turns out the winning time was 42 minutes! If we would have stayed down a few minutes longer, we could have walked away a whopping $12 richer.

The most memorable event and our learning experience from this dive, pay attention to where you enter the water! It was raining hard when we got in the water and though I did set my compass heading before going down, when we came up, we surfaced a couple hundred feet away from the boat lunch we started at and it was a very odd feeling having no idea where in the lake "home" was.

Holiday Weekend

2009-05-26T20:32:00.008-04:00

This Blog entry is in the spirit of 24 for three reasons, too much happened this weekend and it will take too long to write, I'm lazy, and there really isn't a reason to do it this way because I never watch 24.

Friday:

5:32 - Cori Arrives
5:33 - The decision is made to go out to eat
5:47 - We arrive at Niskers
5:51 - Food is ordered with a tip from the waitress that the green beans suck
7:05 - Kalamazoo Kings vs the Traverse City Beach Bums starts
7:06 - Kalamazoo is already up 8 to 1
7:42 - Mark runs out of insults and now actually feels sorry for Cori's team
9:30 - Three outs to go, this game is over 13 to 5
9:35 - Bases are loaded with Bums, zero outs, and the score is now 13 to 10
9:37 - Some miracle happens and the Kings avoid blowing this lead and giving Cori endless payback for my teasing. The game ends 13 to 10.

Saturday:

7:50 - Becca begins making homemade (from a can) cinnamon rolls
8:15 - Sugar rush has started, time to head to Al Sabo to ride
9:12 - Mark tips over on his bike after stopping without unclipping his shoes
9:22 - Mark tips over after being told by Cori he would yet he tried anyway
9:37 - 7 miles in the books
11:43 - Lunch at the Big Burrito
1:15 - Cori finds her first stage of a multi-stage geocache
2:05 - The multi-geocache ends with a fail as one of the stages is in a swamp
4:23 - Grilling chicken on the grill begins
4:25 - Cori, the guest, is now grilling corn on the cob (we are horrible hosts)
5:05 - Dinner turned out pretty good
5:52 - Driving over to South Haven to watch the sunset
9:05 - Ohhh Awww the sunset was mediocre
11:15 - Time for bed, long day tomorrow

Sunday:

6:45 - I'm up, the girls are still sleeping
9:47 - We FINALLY get to the trail and begin riding
11:29 - 17 miles into the ride, Becca decides to go off the trail and into a swamp
11:30 - Mark tips over again trying to rush to Becca's aid
11:33 - Becca, Cori, and Mark are all laughing hysterically at what happened
1:42 - We all made it 34 miles to South Haven and were all smiling
3:00 - Becca showers the nasty swamp off herself
3:23 - Lunch at BW3 to watch the Wings and have wings
3:43 - Cori states she sucks at mini golf
3:44 - The decision is made to go mini golfing since the Wings were winning
4:15 - Mini golf sucks, Cori won
5:37 - Oh the cherry pie and ice cream is soooooo good
6:00 - Kevin Spacey movie night starts
10:30 - Mark slept through both movies and is now going to bed

Monday:

7:15 - It's morning already?
9:16 - we are now dodging walkers on the Celery Flats trail
9:32 - Mark tipped over for the fourth time of the weekend
9:49 - 8 more miles are in the books
10:29 - The girls are at the 9th street park attempting to fly kites
10:41 - Cori tricks Mark into flying her kite
10:42 - Cori's kite is now smashed into the ground
10:43 - 10:57 repeat the last two steps over and over
1:30 - Microwave pot roast could only be better if we didn't eat all the pie
2:00 - 4:30 Watching movies and plain hanging out
4:31 - Becca gets her dirt bike gear out, the discussion starts
5:01 - Cori finally heads home

In all, it was a very fun weekend. The main stats: a hair under 50 miles ridden and I tipped over 4 times on my bike, Becca's new name is swamp ass, and Cori got lucky at mini golf.

Not a Treasure Hunter, I'm a Treasure Finder!

2009-05-21T08:50:00.002-04:00

I admit it, part of the fun of diving is seeing amazing creatures, the underwater landscape, wrecks, all the normal things associated with diving, but the other part is finding lost treasure! Lets be honest, if you are going to have a hobby, might as well have one with the chance of getting rich. Before you get too excited about my discovery and start asking me for a loan, lets face it, not to many pirate ships sailed in the inland lakes in Michigan.

Last night was the official start of Wednesday Night Dive Nights with the local area divers. The destination was Gull Lake, but the other side that I hadn't dove before. It turned out to be a great night for a dive with the outside temps in the 70's and the water temp was in the 50's. Becca and I headed out and found the two boats, the swing set, and a couple of the other objects. This side of Gull Lake didn't seem as cool as the other side, so then I took us on a search pattern trying to find some of the bigger fish. I thought the highlight of the dive was a dead crayfish I found, it wasn't much, but at least it was something. Soon after, I found a bullhead, that once we scared it, it took off in a silt trail frenzy. Next was a bass laying in the weeds. Finally, my orthodox path directed us to where something in the muck caught my eye. To me, it looked like a sardine can, I though "oh great, I found junk", so I let Becca reach for it, figuring to give her the disappointment of crap. Much to my surprise, when she touched it, it's gold band immediately came into view! Treasure! Real Treasure! I can't remember what phrase I shouted through my regulator, but it probably was more of a squeal then anything.

I'm sure One-Eyed Willie personally plundered this gold(plated) watch himself. In his haste to outrun the authorities, the watch slipped from his grasp (I mean his arm was severed off in a sword fight) and sunk harmlessly to the bottom of the lake, so I could find it 200 years later! Okay, so it's a crappy Citizen watch that some drunken fisherman dropped, but it's still my first official underwater treasure, so I'm sticking with my One-Eyed Willie story! Aaaaarrgh!

Three Weeks Later (I only wanna go back)

2009-05-06T08:00:00.003-04:00

Three weeks later, I'm still thinking about my Cozumel trip. Come on, I only logged 787 minutes of underwater time! That's hardly enough to even scratch the surface of what underwater discoveries were to be had. I did come back with plenty of video footage, even though I complain about how I wish I could have done something different (or bitch about missing that amazing 45 seconds of the turtle that I missed by turning my camera off), overall I'm very happy. For my first time warm water diving and my first time taking underwater video, I'm most pleased with myself for learning on the fly. My video tape from the first day to our last day, frankly looks like two different people were taking it. That overall change has me extremely excited looking to the future of what kind of video I'll come back with on my next trip.

Here are three videos that I put together showcasing some of the great finds I was treated to over the vacation. They are HiDef (so definitely don't just watch them small, once you start you'll see a HD button on the right).

The Journey...of New Friendships

2009-04-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

"It's not the destination, it's the journey" That's the quote from my new friend who came down to visit this weekend from the far north. I hope she really means that because our destination didn't go as planned.

The "destination" was to get some biking done on the Kal-Haven trail, grill out, then head to South Haven to catch a sunset and maybe get some kite flying in (I'm not super disappointed about missing the kite flying!). The "journey" became hanging out watching the weather, grilling steaks while holding an umbrella, a trip a quarter of the way to South Haven before turning back once the next batch of storms hit, and finally concluded watching a movie. The weather really didn't cooperate with what I had planed for the weekend, though the temps were nice, that was about it.

Sunday turned slightly better, even though overcast, we did get a bike ride in. We biked the new side of the Kal-Haven trail taking us from the original trail head to downtown Kalamazoo where the trail stops and construction is going to start for this year. The ride turned into a fun ten mile bike trip on smooth pavement. Even though trail is in new condition, with the rain from the previous day, there were a few puddles scattered here and there. One would think that I'd be the "boy" of the bunch, splashing through the puddles, getting dirty, causing trouble, yet I was the only one actively avoiding the mess! Instead the two "girls" were the troublemakers! I'm not sure there was a puddle they avoided on the whole trip and both ended the trip with spotty mud spots on them! Their moms would not be impressed when laundry day rolls around.

Even though the weather could have been better, I think we still had a fun weekend and look forward to getting more biking in....and finding much bigger mud puddles to "dare" them to ride through!

Earth Day

2009-04-23T08:00:00.005-04:00

This was my first official Earth Day experience. I try not to be a total inconsiderate bastard to future generations by trying to be green. The key word is trying, so I have five computers running at the same time all the time! Figured since I'm a little naughty with excess power consumption, I would at least do my part and help do some clean up of the environment. I suppose if I mention that this clean up project was underwater and would allow me to get this year's first lake dive in, it wouldn't be looked at as a shallow excuse to get some diving in as my real motivation, would it?

The air temps were only in the 50's, the min water temp was only in the 40's, but it was great to say I dove in Michigan in April! The dive site was a lake called Pretty Lake in Texas Corners. It was pretty before started, but it's even prettier now. I think I'm in love with my semi-dry suit. Even in that cold water, it really didn't even feel cold. The only extremities that felt cold were my feet and I blame that on the only boots I have are for warm water diving. Out of the four other divers that joined us, all of them had dry suits, and just proved how tough we are.

I was actually surprised with the amount of junk we found, a pair of goggles, water bottle, tons of hair ties, socks, what seemed like a half roll of duct tape (that felt like I was wrestling an anaconda) and various other junk. The majority of the dive and junk finding took place at eight to nine feet, not exactly real diving. Once I felt like we did our good dead, then it was lets head out and explore a little. We did see some good sized perch (though they could have been bass), but the highlight of the dive was finding on old wooden row boat! It was sweet! It was sunk in the muck, about twenty six feet under, and looked like it had been there forever. The sunlight was setting, yet it almost perfectly illuminated it and the green plant life growing around it. Becca and I did our now almost standard underwater high five signaling we found the highlight of the dive and I know I even did an underwater boogie (which I hope she didn't see). To make our discovery even more special, we were the only ones who found it and even the camp workers didn't seem to know it was out there.

So this Earth Day experience will always be remembered for finding a boat!

Here we are post-dive and our lips aren't even blue!

Cozumel Day 6

2009-04-10T13:38:00.002-04:00

This whole trip had one hidden goal of getting to go dive deep. I'm not sure why I find irony so much fun, but keep that in mind as you read about the day. The day of dives getting called off on Day 3 pretty much put an end to all hope of getting the dive I was really looking forward to on this trip. As it turned out, even though I gave up all hope of getting the signature dive of Cozumel in, we came within a few dive lights of being able to do the dive. As it turned out, a couple of the less experienced divers decided to take Friday off and left us with an experience group of divers. Our guide attempted to convince the charter to take us to The Devil's Throat, but the only way that they would is if each diver had a dive light. As it turns out, Becca and I were both ready to go because we had our lights with us from the night dive the previous day, but nobody else had theirs.

As it turned out our last day of diving did take us to a deep wall dive. When I asked the Dive Master the important "How deep is our limit?" question in the hopes that I'd at least be able to break into triple digits, he answered "3000 ft if you want". Not exactly the answer I was looking for, but it told me that there was a good chance I'd be able to at least leave Cozumel with a 100 ft dive, which makes missing the signature dive much easier to take.

This picture is my computer as I hit 100 ft. I'm actually at 104 at this moment, but my computer was freaking out because I had my max dept set for 100. As it turns out I hit 107 and I was very happy with that number. Well, that was until I saw a school of fish and began video taping and although I felt myself drifting down, I thought I had gone up and it wasn't a big deal. When I stopped filming and looked at my computer I was shocked to see it saying I hit 117! Whoops! The rest of the dive I felt really guilty for being naughty and dropping down that deep, so I tried to stay much more shallow the rest of the dive. I think I spent the entire rest of the dive about 10 to 15 feet above Becca. As it turned out, she could read my computer as I dipped down and she gracefully matched me, so we'd have the same record.

The last dive of the trip also turned into the shallowest dive, a whopping 32 ft was the max dept. This whole trip, I was most excited about getting to dive deeper then I had gone before. The irony of this trip, turns out the shallowest dives were the best dives! The reef and coral of this dive made it feel like we were the first people to dive here. If it's possible, it seemed like this place had the new reef smell on it, it was that pristine!

Sad to leave, but left with fifteen dives in and a total of thirteen hours underwater, so I'd say a successful trip!

Cozumel Day 5

2009-04-09T22:06:00.003-04:00

If it's one thing I learned from having our Day 3 canceled, it was even though I'm on vacation, don't assume you can get dives in. I passed on two afternoon dives because I was being lazy, then lost two dives with Day 3 getting canceled, so by this time I was worried that I was missing chances to dive and I wasn't going to miss any more. So, Day 5 was doing every dive I could. I did the two scheduled boat dives, did the afternoon dive, and also did the night dive! Out of the 24 hours of Day 5, I was underwater for 3 hours and 45 minutes!

The first dive of the day was a wreck dive, called C-53. It was a fun dive, but it probably was my least favorite of the whole trip. Now, it was my first wreck dive, which was cool, but it also feels fake because for one thing the cargo ship was sunk on purpose and the other reason is the water is so clear it just didn't seem real to me. Oh and lets not forget the 40+ divers all in the water exploring it at the same time, it reminded me of looking in the aquarium with the bubbles coming from the treasure chest only this time everywhere you looked there were bubbles coming up from the ship. I would have much rather did this dive with only our group, instead both our dive boats did it at the same time. Towards the end of the dive, I did get a very evil look from Becca as she noticed that I used much more air then her effectively shortening her dive.

Second dive is a blank - Fix this (need to go check my video to see if anything interesting happened)

The third dive of the day, I went solo. My dive buddy was out of action with her ears, being the true friend that I am, I left her on the beach and went out without her. I'll share the video with her, so it's almost like we both went, without having to carry her gear or get wet, plus she got to drink on the beach (I don't feel too guilty). It was a small group for the afternoon dive. I think everybody was starting to get tired and water logged, so only three other people from our group went our two guides, one other guy and myself. I'm always getting teased for how much air I use while diving from my real dive buddy, plus getting the evil eye earlier in the day, I was all about being good on air. This dive with the two guides, who are very experienced divers and one seems to gills and doesn't even need air, I concentrated hard on my breathing to conserve air. I ended the dive cutting my air consumption in half! I still think it was a fluke, but in addition to really trying to control my breathing, I also made sure to let the current do all the work. In the end, it allowed for 66 minutes of dive time and the only reason we came up was we ran out of things to see. This really turned into a fun dive with us about four wide at all times searching about three to four feet off the bottom for small treasures. Found a couple of flounders and the highlight of the dive was a seahorse.

The last dive of the night was another night dive. This time I decided to leave the video camera in the room and get a dive in without worrying about capturing the moment and wanted to take everything in my own internal video camera. I think it turned out well because we didn't get as lucky as the previous night dive, but we still saw some eels, octopus, and a few crabs and it was fun just trying to hunt for things without dragging the camera around. Becca did take the small camera just in case we saw something really amazing.

At the end of the day, I know I was asleep about thirty seconds after my head hit the pillow!

Cozumel Day 4

2009-04-09T07:43:00.004-04:00

The first dive of the day was at a site called Palancar Caves. Up until this point, all the coral formations had been almost like ground cover. The Palancar Caves reminded me of the Grand Canyon or maybe Luke Skywalker as he skimmed the surface of the Deathstar. There were times when there were easily thirty to forty feet of vertical coral walls on either side as I drifted between them with less then ten feet between them. Pictures couldn't do the sensation justice, though no real caves, it did feel like you were in a cave. I set a new depth record for myself at 88 ft. It was also a very eerie feeling to drift out past the edge of the coral wall, look down, and see no bottom except an ever deeper blue abyss below myself. Drop something here, forget about ever seeing it again! The end of the dive brought us to a white sand and coral bottom where we saw a huge stingray with a fish swimming directly over it like they were best buddies. Exiting on the boat brought is into jellyfish city. I thought for sure I was going to have stings all over me as I exited the water in thousand of what felt like squishy eyeballs.

The second dive site of the day was called Tormentos. My memory of this dive is already shot (that just proves I should have did the write up on these the day of instead of waiting!). I do remember the current here was stronger then anything so far, the underwater world really zipped by. We did find a lobster that we tormented, so I assume that's why it's called Tormentos!

The night dive was my favorite of the day. The octopus was by far one of the coolest things I've ever witnessed. The ability of it to move and adapt to avoid detection is simply incredible. In addition to being able to change color in an instant to camouflage itself, it's ability to change it's shape was amazing. At one point with a handful of divers all surround and flashing it with search lights, it moved to what I can only describe as a piece of coral that was like a huge mushroom, then the octopus sat on top of it and changed color, had we not been chasing the poor thing and watched it try to trick us, I would have completely lost it. Until you see something like that with your own eyes, telling somebody about it, or even not watching it live, it still doesn't give a real sense of how impressive mother nature is. I'm still bummed I missed my minute and a half of watching that huge turtle eat, but watching this octopus may have been the most amazing thing from this trip.

Cozumel Day 3

2009-04-07T23:42:00.002-04:00

The dive day that was invisible, Cozumel Day 3. All night what sounded like a floor waxing machine turned out to be the wind howling through our storm shutters. That wind didn't stop for the whole day and more importantly didn't stop in the morning to cancel all the dive boats. What do you do in Cozumel when you can't dive, well you geocache of course! First stop of the morning was finding at least one geocache so we could at to our trophy list.

Even though it was windy, walking around in 70+ temps with the sun beating down took more energy then I liked. Our mission ended with one find, then we retired. I headed to the pool for some much needed sun on the rest of my body that the wetsuit covers and Becca headed for a nap.

Lunch time proved there were many anxious divers ready to go, but no hope for a boat dive with the conditions, so a shore dive was scheduled. Becca sat this dive out to rest her ears and did her impression of the little deck hands on the dive boats running around helping everyone. For being a shore dive and one not over any kind of coral reef, it turned into a very enjoyable dive. For one thing even though the waves were smashing into the seawall, once under, there was very little current. It was nice to be able to stop and hover to really check something out. For what I can only describe as a vast dessert of white crushed coral bottom, it had a surprising amount of life in it. There would be little formations of something, for example an old part of an engine block, which would have all kinds of life around it. In that example in addition to the ten fish around it also was home to a spotted moray eel. Another example was a natural coral piece the size of a basketball with two lobsters calling it home and again this small city of life all around that basketball and thirty feet around it nothing but dessert. It went on like that over and over again, a sea snake, small sting ray, puffers, and the splendid toadfish (which is what is in this picture). So just like my boat dives, this splendid toadfish is invisible.

The day ended with us as a group, well about 20 of us, going into town for dinner as a change of pace from the all inclusive food of the resort. I thought the food was decent, but it actually really wasn't any better then the food at the resort in my opinion. It was fun to get out and socialize a bit more. I met the opposite of my parents tonight, they are retired and have traveled to about every corner of the globe it seems like. I believe their daughter said they go someplace new every six weeks, maybe that was a joke, but it sure seemed like it. They both are a walking travel encyclopedia.

My invisible dive fish:

Cozumel Day 2

2009-04-06T21:08:00.004-04:00

I dedicate today to the Queen Angelfish, she is my favorite fish at the moment, but her angel powers did not help me today. What was our most amazing day of diving yet, turned sour when looking at my video from this mornings dives. I missed what I can only describe as the coolest 30 seconds of diving yet, a sea turtle was feeding and was surrounded by Queen Angelfish, my heart was racing as I was witnessing this, it was beautiful! That moment is now forever ruined because what I didn't realized until I got back to the hotel, I actually stopped the recording when I thought I started it, missing everything, yet capturing an amazingly horrible piece of footage as it recorded while dangling beneath me.

I am totally pissed at myself for missing what I'm sure would have been the treasured footage of the trip. To make matters worse, Becca is having ear problems. We called off the afternoon dive today because she was in that much pain and thought it best for her to rest it. So, that's what we are doing tonight, rest and recovery. Hopefully tomorrow brings better days.

The first dive of the day took me down to 78 ft (Becca hit 79, she always has to beat me). It was a gorgeous dive through coral caves and walls. The downside was for as many divers in our group, let alone other dive boats, it was too much action for such a confined space. It would have been a spectacular dive had it only been a small group. I did get the turtle footage in my preview clip, so I have to be happy with that (though the one I missed was a hundred times more impressive).

The second dive was my most favorite dive to date. It was a shallower dive, maybe 55 ft, but the current was very strong and required almost no work. I suppose one negative was if you saw something cool, you didn't have much time to enjoy it. The variety of both the coral formations and the abundance of fish, it also happened to feature my sea turtle that I missed. In my preview clip there is a short clip towards the end where the world goes zooming by with little or no visible fish, this is what the current was like.

One other noteworthy occurrence from today, our boat got pulled over by the Mexican version of the DNR. I like the bribes down here, two bottles of Coke (the drink, not even the power), and they left us alone.

Cozumel Day 1

2009-04-05T17:57:00.004-04:00

The dive part of day 1 is now complete, two more are in the books. The first dive is where these clips took place. The first surprise fish were two good sized barracudas, much larger then the baby one Becca and I had seen in Maui. I would guess 2, maybe 3 feet in length. No sooner did I get done filming them, then I turned around and saw what I can only describe as "mom"! She was huge! In the video it's really hard to get a frame of reference, but I'd say she was a good 5 feet of fish! There definitely was a moment for thought of "loss of limb would be very possible". Turns out that a school of divers is very intimidating, so she backed off.

The special fish on today's spotted list were a sliver of tail of a nurse shark, those barracudas, a sting ray, lobster, and something I have to look up but for now I'm calling a two tailed star fish. Previewing my video, I'm very happy with how it's looking. The filter on it makes it look so much better! My only complaint so far is very dive is a drift dive. It's great because almost the only time kicks are needed is to avoid coral formations. The down side, is if something cool is spotted, you are most likely going by it without much time to concentrate on it. It reminds me of those first generation of movies where the stage coach was real and the background was spinning behind them, that's almost what it feels like.

The first dive also included a fun zig zag in a coral formation cave. Becca already wants to punch one of the other divers in our group in the face because for some reason he decided to climb over her to follow me. I think it's just because my butt looks so good, but she wasn't overly thrilled with him. She happened to be taking video herself and it's not only did he definitely climbed over her, but a few choice words can be heard through her regulator (we'll just edit that part out of the video). On part I particularly enjoyed was looking back to check on Becca to see her "shivering". Keep in mind, I'm sure the water temp was 80, her days of diving Michigan may be long gone!

The second dive didn't have anything "cool" happen, but that isn't being fair either. The world down there is absolutely unreal. I could probably dive the same spot over and over again and you'd still see something new every time. Oh, I guess something memorable did happen now that I think of it. My fancy hat, well it's not a permanent souvenir of Cozumel. A wind gust got me on the boat and sent it sailing! Not sure what it is this trip, but already of all the stupid things are happening to me!

We got back to the hotel around 1 in the afternoon. Becca was feeling a little jet lag, so we decided not to do the afternoon dive today. It worked out well because it gave me time to checkout my video and get an idea how it turned out. Initial reports, I think I'm going to be super happy with it. Oh, by the way, as I'm typing this blog, I'm sitting on my patio, slight breeze, overlooking the pool in 80 degree temps. Think it's 39 back home, call me when it gets to 80 and I may come back!

No idea what tonight is going to have on the agenda. I think we are going to relax and just enjoy it not officially being Monday tomorrow!

Amazing Start

2009-04-04T21:49:00.004-04:00

Unlike our recent travels, the travel to Cozumel didn't involve running to catch planes, finding canceled flights, or crossing our fingers that we made it onto the plane. The only surprise was that our nonstop flight from Detroit to Cozumel actually had an hour layover in Charlotte. Even with that unexpected surprise, it wasn't to bad because it got us a full meal, which we'd need for the rest of the day.

Landing in Cozumel, the check-in through customs is interesting. My favorite part is the final check to see if you are going to get "audited" is done by pushing a button. If it comes up green you go, if it goes red, I'm not sure what happens, but I can only imagine it isn't good. My finger proved to be green and somehow Becca didn't even have to push the button, I think she's an illegal!

The drive from the airport was interesting. The lush greens that I know from Maui aren't there. This island looks like my yard come late August when the grass is all brown. I swear if somebody dropped a match the whole island would go up in flames, yet it wouldn't either. Every structure that I've seen so far is pure concrete. I can only imagine it's to withstand a hurricane, but it's very odd to see no wood or iron of any kind in the frame work of buildings. It also is very apparent to me that projects get started here, yet never get finished, so it's my kind of place!

Because our group size is so large it two planes to get us all here. We happened to be on the second group and the first group got on the island a few hours before us. As we were checking in, the first group guide asked the second group guide if he wanted to get an quick afternoon dive in. Becca immediately stepped in and said "yes"! We hadn't been on the ground for more then an hour and had already had an unsanctioned dive scheduled! Rushing to get our gear unpacked, then collect it all for a rush out to get some diving in, I hardly had time to enjoy the colorful alcoholic drink I was handed just by arriving at the hotel.

Fast forward about 30 minutes and maybe another 30 minutes waiting for the boat to arrive and Becca, our two guides, and myself were off! Not bad to have our own private dive party. This worked out absolutely perfect because it now gives us a great idea of what to expect, how things work, and an overall pre-jitter kill dive. But what would any dive be without a story, well I'm here to deliver! My adventure started with entering the water, starting my decent, only to watch one of my weight pockets go plunging to the bottom! Try as I might, I couldn't get more then half way to it because I didn't have the weight needed to get down. After some half assed hand signals to Becca, she figured out what had happened and went down and got my weights and we were back in business. Lesson learned, make sure those are snapped in good (glad we only were in about 40ft of water and not the 3000ft, no bottom dive).

We didn't bring any of the camera gear for this dive. We mainly wanted to get comfortable with what to expect. That's good and bad. There were some amazing coral formations on even this very easy dive. The guides afterward said this was nothing to what we will do, but I'll say this, money spent on this trip...totally worth it after our first dive! Some of the coral formations were out of this world, I've never seen anything like them. I know it's not saying much since this is my first official warm water dive, but it was very impressive. Fish everywhere, I'll have to pay better attention to the types that I see, but I definitely saw many things I haven't seen before. The visibility is crazy, I could see for what felt like forever, which was funny that Becca and I were usually as close as we are in the five feet visibility of Gull Lake. We got two 25 minute dives in, before our official dive vacation starts tomorrow.

The evening ended with a walk into town and back and then dinner at the hotel. I'm hurrying to write this because it has been a long day of travel and dives and I'm ready for bed! We officially start our dive trip tomorrow morning at 8:15 am. I'm a little geeked (if you couldn't tell by my tone in this entry)

Safety Check(not)

2009-03-30T10:00:00.001-04:00

Got my new toy just in time to get some practice with it before the trip. Here's my new Ikelite underwater housing for my Sony HC7 camera. I'm very excited about being able to capture the underwater world of Cozumel on it's first official trip. The "Pool Party" before the trip featured a very full pool as everybody seemed to want to get some practice in the water.

Instead of practicing our buddy breathing, hand signals, and water entry methods, you know all the important things that could keep us safe on our trip, here's me practicing to be the BEST break dancer underwater!

Pool Breakdance from PhotobyAce on Vimeo.

It wasn't all fun and games, okay yes it was! I'm blaming being more concerned about getting a feel for my new housing then I was really practicing the things we should have been going over. I put too much money into this housing to not put it to good use, so I'm going to be confident that Becca will save me if I need it! (Now that my dad is officially worried that I'm not taking my safety seriously, I'll skip telling about the really cool shark dive that I want to do next time!) My buoyancy with the camera was better and worse then I expected. I started out having a little trouble floating comfortably with it, but once I dropped some weight, it got much easier. My videotography could use some work, especially at the end of this clip, but in my defense, Becca and I were playing catch! Here's a small sample of what we did:

Pool Party from PhotobyAce on Vimeo.

Who needs a safety check when I have a good dive buddy? Less then a week before the real fun starts!

Sometimes A Smile Is All You Can Do

2009-03-18T11:50:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was one of those valuable learning experiences, although very embarrassing to admit, it something to laugh about now. This may be common knowledge to some, but bike peddles are threaded differently based on which side of the bike you are attempting to remove them from! I'm sure I could stop this blog entry with that statement and no further explaining would be needed to paint the picture of what transpired over this past weekend, but what fun would that be?

With our exercise craze, we both are hoping this summer is going to be about putting lots of miles on our bikes, visiting other bike trails, and continuing to be active. If it's going to be done, it's best to do it right, so we decided to make the investment in new bike peddles and special shoes that lock you to the bike. How better to follow through on your goal of biking more then if it's physically hard to remove yourself from the bike? Okay, that really isn't really the reason. The point is provide your foot and muscles to have more of a push and pull type motion providing more power as you ride.

The first peddle went on easily, the reason, we just happened to pick the normal one. Becca, being the man of the operation, tried as she might on the left peddle and couldn't make it budge. Then it was my turn, same result. Next was a team effort of Becca holding the bike upright as I put all the force I could behind my weight as I'm physically standing on the wrench in an attempt to force the peddle to loosen. At this point the cats who were intently watching the activity, sensed this wasn't going to end well and they disappeared (probably to Twitter their other cat friends how stupid these two humans were).

While I attempted to find a long pipe to slide over the wrench and proved even more leverage, Becca by playing with her bike, figured our mistake of which way we really should be turning the wrench. At this point, if the peddle wasn't tight to begin with, it was now super tight with our original efforts. I found a plastic PVC pipe that I use close my skylight shades with. Even though the plastic isn't what I'd call heavy duty, I was so frustrated with our efforts to this point I wasn't concerned about breaking three dollar piece of pipe. Believe it or not, it worked like a charm. It created enough leverage to undo my standing on the wrench to tighten the peddle on without even breaking. It's one of those moments that afterward, we just look at each other and smile. I'm sure both of us were thinking, let us never again speak of this moment, but it's such a classic moment of us the story must be told.

I will however not tell the story of Becca's first experience using her new peddles. So, this picture is my favorite of the weekend. This was about 6 hours before our peddle fiasco while we were at Meijer Gardens, but the point is even though the smile didn't stay the big for the whole day, at the end it was the same.

The Coundown Begins

2009-03-11T08:00:00.001-04:00

It's official, my trip next month is close enough that I can actually start getting excited about it! On Monday was the meeting for the trip, to get our itinerary, know things to bring, get a general idea of what to expect, and most importantly what weapons to bring to avoid the drug warlords. I'm really not worried about the warlords because first of all, I've seen Mythbusters and bullets can't do any damage to the body through more than just a few feet of water and I plan on being much deeper. Second, even when on land, I run faster then Becca.

It looks like it's going to be a blast. I'm most excited about a small side trip where the two guides are going to make a special trip to the southern side of the island for deeper dive at what is called the Devil's Throat. It really sounds like a sweet dive where it takes you through a tunnel and will easily be the deepest dive to date for me. Be prepared for the story between Becca and I as I can already see it now where each of us tries to swim away with who will go the deepest (I'm already planning on sticking my arm in the sand if I have to, just to beat her at something). When they first brought that side adventure up, my comment to them, immediately count the two of us in! So, it's possible it would only be the four of us going, which would be extra sweet.

My Birthday seems to come earlier and earlier every year. Yesterday, with my gift from my secret admirers, I ordered my underwater housing for my video camera. I decided with the smaller still camera, the video camera makes the most sense to try to capture this experience. I'm hoping to get it soon, give it some trial runs in the pool before we leave, and be ready to go so that I can share the Devil's Throat at 130ft!

A hair over four weeks away and counting down!

Left Brain Meets Creativity

2009-03-08T19:00:00.008-04:00

Just when I think I've witnessed everything the Internet has to offer, that's when I get served a dish of humble pie. Not being one to ever turn down pie, I have to admit, it does taste pretty good and it was a pleasant surprise.

I made a new friend this week. What's different about this friend? Well, we have never seen each other. We don't have any idea what each other sounds like. We don't share mutual friends, work together, or even live that close to each other. The only real thing in common that we share is an iPhone app. Even though none of the traditional friendship common bond type things apply, there is one quality that I find in every good friendship I have, this person challenges me. Where I struggle to do anything creative, this person is almost the exact opposite. It's a refreshing change to hear a different perspective on a topic. Even though I'm always right, it never hurts to listen to the other point of view! :)

In addition to the point of view differences, friendship is about learning from the other person (at least for me). Take Couch Surfing for example. That was one of the first new things I learned that I had zero knowledge of before this week started. Who knew that people traveled around the world staying on strangers couches? Not necessary the safest concept out there and I don't plan on doing it any time soon, but it is an interesting idea. I obviously didn't know about it, but my new friend did. I'm sure it won't be only completely new thing I learn from my new friend either.

Photography has always been an outlet to try to at least prove to myself that I'm not entirely left brained. This is my favorite photo from this weekend. When I spotted it, I immediately knew the effect I wanted to try with it. It's hardly super creative, but it's dedicated to my new friend. I hope just by knowing them, it will unlock more of my creative side, in turn, I hope I can offer something they need in return. Here's to our friendship, may we both continue to learn from each other.

Opening Season

2009-03-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

It was opening day for butterfly hunting season yesterday. I can't say that I was in my blind at the crack of dawn, can't even say I made it for the official opening, but the point is I did make it! The number of targets weren't plentiful, but my aim was true and I did walk away with a number of keepers. The trick this year is trying to make butterflies not look like the other hundred butterfly pictures I already have. Can't say I was successful at that, but that's what I'm going for this year.

The Lost Week

2009-03-01T08:15:00.001-05:00

It was a dark and stormy night...isn't that how most mysteries start? I'm going to spare you the expense of flipping four hundred pages to find out how this mystery ends. The mystery of The Lost Week was because of a head cold. No visits to the gym, no special adventures, the past week consisted of trying to breathe and trying to conserve Kleenex to prevent having to visit the store.

Now that this season's cold is out of the way, lets get back to the fun things.

Follow Me - Take Two

2009-02-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

A few entries back I was playing around with an app called Brightkite. Well, here's another one called Loopt. Each has some advantages and some disadvantages. Loopt may have pulled into the lead a little because it allows me to add this widget to my blog, though it looks like a picture, it really is a recent history of my last few check ins. I can't play with it yet, but Google is getting close to releasing their version of this same type of service call Latitude. I have a feeling that Google's will be the winner, but at the moment, I like this little player. So, at least over the next few days, I'm going to try to keep Loopt updated and Becca might get lucky because I think it will be fun to "track" a Geocaching adventure.

So, if you want to stalk me, all you have to do is look at this entry (hint hint Shania Twain).